Orchestra Ends Discord Over Women Female Musicians Can Join For First Time In 155 Years

Anna Lelkes has played a harp for the Vienna Philharmonic for 26 years, but always as an outsider in the all-male club.

On Thursday, she became a full member when the orchestra decided to admit women for the first time in its 155-year history.

The Vienna Philharmonic had been the last world-class symphony orchestra to bar women after the Berlin Philharmonic opened to them in 1982.

“It looked so hopeless until very recently,” Lelkes, 57, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “But I am now extremely happy.”

She denied reports that she was planning to retire.

Thursday’s decision came after a closed-door, four-hour meeting of the Philharmonic’s musicians, most of whom also are part of the Vienna State Opera orchestra. The agreement, which applies to both groups, follows weeks of increased pressure on the Philharmonic to end its men-only policy.

Among the most outspoken critics were U.S. women’s groups, who threatened demonstrations and boycotts during the orchestra’s 10-day international tour, which begins Friday and includes stops in London, Paris, Los Angeles and New York.

“This is a historical occasion worthy of celebration. However, the admittance of women into previously all-male orchestras in just token numbers is well-documented,” the U.S.-based International Alliance for Women in Music said Thursday.

Lelkes informally broke the men-only barrier as far back as 1971, when she first started playing in both the Philharmonic and State Opera orchestras.

Good male harpists are few, so she was permitted to play full-time. Without full membership, however, she was not allowed to vote on orchestra policy regarding concerts, conductors and recordings as the men do.

In a 1995 interview with the AP, Lelkes spoke of little triumphs along the way to full recognition, proudly mentioning that her name appeared on the Philharmonic program for the first time ever in March 1995, when the orchestra played Carnegie Hall.

Philharmonic spokesman Wolfgang Schuster told the AP that more women may join this summer, when the orchestra will for the first time formally allow women to audition for openings.

He said the long-expected move was based on an agreement with Peter Wittmann, Austria’s new secretary for the arts. Wittmann’s boss, Chancellor Viktor Klima, had virtually demanded the Philharmonic admit women.

The State Opera leadership had earlier told members of that orchestra to agree to allow women. Unlike the Philharmonic, which is a private association, the opera orchestra is paid by the state.

“The Vienna Philharmonic has decided wisely and recognized the creative potential which rests in one half of humankind,” Klima said. “(It) proved its responsibility for a modern, open society.”

Schuster, considered an opponent of women in the Philharmonic, was conciliatory about the sweeping policy change.

“My viewpoint is that you can only survive (as a top orchestra) if you take on the very best musicians,” he said. “It’s the style above all; it must remain the Viennese style.”

Leonard Bernstein praised the Viennese, as did Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel and Daniel Barenboim, who will conduct them on the tour that starts today in Paris.