THE EXPERIENCE OF CHINESE WOMEN CONDUCTORS IN THE CONTEXT OF WORLD MUSIC PRACTICE

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the place of women conductors of Chinese descent and their influence on the world music community.
Research methodology. A number of major publications on this topic in English and French were analyzed. The principles of interdisciplinary discourse, as well as genre-style and interpretive analysis were used.
Results. The article considers the peculiarities of the work of women conductors in the context of the history of music. The prerequisites and difficulties faced by women during their careers as conductors over time are described. Negative factors in the assessment of the work of contemporary women conductors are identified. The significance of Chinese women conductors on the world music scene is established and their contribution to the popularisation of classical music in China and the West is outlined. It is found that in Eastern culture, the significance of the gender gap within the conducting profession is lower than in Western culture, which is associated with the masculinity of the latter. The practice of Zheng Xiaoying, Xian Zhang and Tianyi Lu are considered in the context of the problem of interpreting Western orchestral music. It is established that a distinctive feature of Zheng Xiaoying, the first female conductor in China, is the addition of verbal explanations to her performances, which have an educational function. It has been found that the conducting practice of Xiang Zhang and Tianyi Lu has been brought outside China. Their contribution to the history of world music is to pave the way for women conductors in a number of symphony orchestras in Europe, Australia and the USA, to popularise the music of women composers and to erase gender prerequisites for creativity. The analysis of Xiang Zhang's interpretation of the orchestral opus «Connect» by the contemporary American composer Kevin Putz proves the conductor's skill in building a coherent symphonic canvas with vivid timbre and dynamic contrasts and emphasises the absence of gender identity in the listening experience.
Novelty. The article raises a relatively new issue for Ukrainian musicology related to gender differences in the principles of conducting; it considers the work of unstudied conductors and analyses a work that is new in musicological discourse.
Practical significance. The information contained in this article may be useful for Ukrainian and Chinese musicology in studying the peculiarities of the interpretation of orchestral music.