"Too Many Frocks", Season 1

Women at the keyboard and women accompanying songs were ubiquitous in domestic spheres since the invention of the keyboard instrument. Though a predominantly female pursuit in domestic and salon circles, the professionalization of the art song pianist beginning in the late 19th century inevitably flipped that script, with lasting implications. Today it is situated in a gray space between chamber musician, service provider, and coach / pseudo-conductor. While it is common knowledge that female film directors, conductors and composers are rare beasts today, the prevalence of (white) males at the piano on top stages — despite top educational programs and university staff position skewing majority female for decades — is a surprise to many. In fact, relatively little thought is generally given to the niche profession of the art song pianist in general.

In the interest of changing that, between the summer of 2018 and spring 2020 Chanda VanderHart conducted and recorded interviews with leading professionals in the field — primarily pianists but also musicologists, singers and sociologists — were conducted both in person and via zoom in the interest of exploring the marginalized field of art song piano. These professionals, based in Canada, the USA, Austria, Germany, France, Spain, England, Belgium and the UK were Deirdre Brenner, Anna Bull, Jeanne-Minette Cilliers, Carolyn Hague, Thomas Hampson, Elisa Rapado Jambrina, Graham Johnson, Kathleen Kelly, Russell Miller, Elvia Puccinelli, Anna Ronai, Anna Tillbrook and Jonathan Ware, with the express intention of combining both well-known names and working professionals with less international traction. Thanks to funding from IMI at the mdw, former BBC producer Bill Lloyd was brought on board. He took care of sound and editing, and refined the narrative of what became a seven episode series available via spotify, sound cloud and apple podcasts and archived in the mdw-Audiothek. Narrated, written and conceived by pianist and musicologist Chanda VanderHart , the complex power dynamics, structures and hierarchies within the field are examined in detail through a critical lens.

The seven episodes are archived here in .wav format.