FROM 25 Mar
Based upon the true story of Dutch-born Antonia Brico, the world’s first woman to conductor a symphony orchestra in the 20's. Shown as a UK premiere originally for our Gala opening of the 28th Chichester International Film Festival in 2019, this is a rare opportunity to see this remarkable Dutch film which still has no UK distribution.
24-year-old Antonia Brico (Christanne de Bruijn) was a child when she and her parents immigrate to the United States.
Her piano teacher advises her against taking the entrance exam for the conservatory, and because she has little to lose, she returns to her motherland, where she begs the famous conductor Mengelberg (Gijs Scholten van Aschat) to give her conducting lessons, and after a two-year study at the State Academy of Music she becomes the first woman to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
The film contains superb and enticing extracts of classical music especially performed for ‘The Conductor’.