Earlier this year, a hard-hitting report about misogyny in music was published by the UK Parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee. The report contained personal accounts that showed that not only is inequality still pervasive in the classical music world, but that women are enduring an unacceptable level of sexual abuse and harassment.
As a woman CEO of a female-founded music competition, the resonance of gender inequality and sexism strikes a particularly discordant note. Our own journey began with a poignant moment in 2021, when a single gender dominated the final stage — all male. As the curtains drew on the competition, we were compelled to confront this. Peering into our own history, only two of our first prize-winners have been women over 20 competitions. Across the piano competitionscape, the same pattern emerges.
Among members of the World Federation of International Music Competitions, men won 82% of the most recent 40 major piano competitions, and 14 had all-male finals. A glance towards the world of violin reveals a striking reverse contrast, where women claim 75% of first prizes. It’s tempting to use this to dispel any notion of inherent gender bias in classical music. But still the question begs: why does the piano carry a different tune? And more importantly, what can we do to orchestrate a more equitable future?
We discovered that the trajectory of pianists begins equally — boys and girls stand on an even footing from first lessons to conservatoire graduations. But beyond this, women pianists are far less likely to win a major award or gain a place on a career development programme. There’s a myth that ‘talent will always rise to the top,’ but even the most talented needs cultivation and opportunities to realise their potential. If we’re failing to distribute these equitably, it can have a huge impact over the lifetime of a career and may explain why less than 23% of career pianists are women.
Presenting this to industry colleagues, we were offered a range of explanations — from differences in resilience, persistence and risk-taking, to hand size, body frames and volume, through to yes, you guessed it, the desire to have a family.
These unhelpful conjectures push the blame back on to the woman, rather than acknowledge they are biases. Evidence suggests that from the moment they are born, boys and girls are treated differently, potentially influencing subject choices in education and career aspirations. They are more likely to enter the workforce with higher qualifications than men, but earn less per hour, and the gender pay gap widens.
Furthermore, musical networks create invisible webs of advantage, and there’s bias that plays out in competitive situations, where strong opinions abound. Over the past few decades, blind auditions have helped orchestras to transform their gender balance (although male principals still dominate), but we are the first to be leading intentional action in the competition sector.
We are committed to modelling a more equitable stage at this year’s Competition through deep-blind pre-selections, minimising biographical details throughout all rounds, unconscious-bias training for jurors, targeted career support for aspiring pianists, and a review of our voting processes.
Representation is important — we have a balance of women and men on our jury and in our festival programme. You’ll hear a record number of works by women composers throughout the competition, and we launch a new cash prize with concert opportunities for the best performance by a woman composer, sponsored by the equity-championing pianist Alexandra Dariescu.
Fiona Sinclair, CEO
“WE ARE COMMITTED TO MODELLING A MORE EQUITABLE
STAGE AT THIS YEAR’S COMPETITION…”
Our Jurors understand the privilege and power they hold, and we’ve shared our research with them, so they fully understand why we are taking this approach. They have told us that blind listening has been liberating, as there’s a risk of bias when we know about someone’s references, scholarships or other competition wins, and they will help inform further changes.
The Leeds International Piano Competition has long been a beacon for aspiring pianists worldwide. We celebrate talent on a global platform, offer concert opportunities and prize-money, and provide support systems for careers. Competitions like ours are more important than ever and can be life-changing, so we have a duty to ensure these opportunities are distributed equitably.
This year, you can be assured that whoever wins the first prize will have won solely for their musicianship. But the changes we are making will benefit ALL our pianists, so that we can continue to encourage and discover unique musical voices that enable the fullest artistic expression across the piano world.
With thanks to all the incredible, dedicated people who shared their knowledge, data and research with us and continue to champion a more equitable future for all our artists, in particular pianist Alexandra Dariescu, Dr Barbara Kelly, Head of the School of Music, University of Leeds, and Vick Bain, author of ‘Counting the Music Industry: The Gender Gap.’