Today I am planning to show the children this YouTube clip of the first movement of Elgar’s Cello Concerto. I don’t know if they will have the concentration to listen to or watch much of it but I chose this particular clip for two reasons:

1. It’s a stunning piece and a great introduction to the gorgeous tone of the cello.

2. It is conducted here by Estonian Anu Tali – a female!

I may well return to the subject of the sad lack of high profile female conductors in a future post but, for now, my aim is just to allow my children to watch a female conductor in action and hope they see it as something both normal and inspiring (and not too boring!). I’m very interested to see whether they already (at ages 3, 4 and 6) have an opinion as to whether conducting is a ‘male or female’ kind of job… but I’m not sure I intend to lead the conversation in that direction.