The Metropolitan Opera is making preparations for the 2013-2014 season—which include Jane Glover conducting a production of The Magic Flute in December 2013.

Jane Glover, conductor

Jane Glover, conductor

Glover is not only an internationally recognized and well-respected conductor and educator, leading the opera division of the Royal Academy of Music, she is also the author of the acclaimed book Mozart’s Women published in 2007.

Jane Glover has led the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, English National Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Australia, and the Teatro La Fenice in Venice—to name a few. She will be only the third woman to ever conduct at the Met in its 120+ year history.

Sarah Caldwell was the first woman to conduct at the Met on January 13, 1976—a tidbit that made it to the very bottom of the FAQ page.  The second woman was Simone Young, as Anthony Tommasini noted in the NY Times in 2007. Tommasini was writing about Marin Alsop starting her tenure as the first female Music Director of a top-level U.S. orchestra. The article was full of optimism, but while women continue to make progress in the mid-level ensembles, we have seen no further progress at the most prestigious institutions. That Jane Glover is to conduct at the Met is obviously long overdue.