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Articles
The Record, Northern New Jersey
Thursday, June 10, 1999
Con Brio
Conductor Gisèle Ben-Dor blazes a rare path in her
life and work.
By Ryan Jones
Her father was accountant, and so Gisèle Ben-Dor assumed
she would be an accountant, too. If you were a teenage
girl growing up in Uruguay three decades ago, this was
how things worked. Careers paths weren't chosen so much
as they were inherited.
Always more suited to Tchaikovsky than taxes, Ben-Dor
never did get that economics degree. She became, instead,
a musician and a conductor. She lives in the United
States now, very much a woman of her time and environment,
and she is certain her own children will feel no pressure
to follow their mother's line of work.
Good thing, too. They don't appear to be interested.
"When my oldest son was about 3 years old, someone
asked him, 'So, you want to be a conductor when you
grow up?'" Ben-Dor recalls. "He said, 'No. That's for
girls.'"
She follows the punch line with a joyful laugh, but
there is a point to this anecdote, and Ben-Dor makes
sure it is not missed.
"You see? That's the nature of prejudice. This is what
he knows," she explains. "How can a conductor possibly
be a man? He can't identify with that."
Her oldest son, Roy, is 16 now, no doubt old enough
to understand that the job of leading symphony orchestras
is not just for girls, and that his mother is something
of a rarity. The musical director for two American orchestras,
a sought-after guest conductor, and an acclaimed recording
artist, Ben-Dor has fought the archaic tendencies of
the classical music world, earning a reputation and
a fan base that seem to grow daily.
Settled in Englewood Cliffs, where she lives on a quiet
street with her husband Eli and sons Roy and 7-year
old Gabriel, Ben-Dor has a home base from which her
far-reaching career is maintained. Currently, she stands
at the helm of the Santa Barbara (Calif.) Symphony and
the Boston Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and appears regularly
with orchestras from around the world.
"I've been commuting for seven years," she says with
a grin, "and I'm sick of it."
Travel, it seems, is in her blood.
Sensing the growing tension in pre-World War II Europe,
Ben-Dor's parents left Poland in the early 1930s and
settled in Uruguay. Growing up in the small South American
nation, she learned half of the six languages she now
speaks and developed an intense love of music. "Obsessed,"
she says. "That would be the word.
"When I was 3 years old, I asked my parents to buy
me a piano, so they bought me one for my fourth birthday,"
she continues. "It was just the greatest joy I could've
had. I would spend hours there. By the time I was 5,
I could play anything.
By 12, she was the musical director at her school,
and by 14, she was being paid to conduct. She left Uruguay
at 18, following her family roots to Israel, where her
musical studies intensified and she eventually married.
Seven years later, she arrived in the United States,
attending a two-year graduate program at Yale and preparing
to jump-start a late-blooming career.
Ben-Dor went back to Tel Aviv for her conducting debut,
nine months pregnant with Roy. The young family lived
briefly in Dumont, until a job as an assistant conductor
in Louisville began a series of moves - first to Kentucky,
then to Houston, and finally back to New Jersey. Settled
in Bergen County, where Eli worked, Ben-Dor took over
the Annapolis Symphony, then accepted jobs in Boston
and Santa Barbara.
"If I could find an orchestra within a two-hour drive
of here, I would be so happy," she says. "New York,
New Jersey, Connecticut, anywhere."
She has made her presence felt locally, guesting with
the New York Philharmonic on occasion, including a recent
appearance during which she stepped in without rehearsal
and led the orchestra through a Beethoven overture and
a Mahler symphony.
Because of performances like that, and because of the
emotional depth of her recorded work - on her most recent,
she leads the London Symphony Orchestra through the
Alberto Ginastera ballets "Panambi" and "Estancia,"
just released on BMG/Conifer - Ben-Dor has been inundated
with glowing reviews.
"Critics, there are those who will adore you," she
says, "and those for whom you can do no good."
The statement applies to any artistic medium, but it
carries an extra sting for Ben-Dor, a woman in a decidedly
patriarchal field. For all the critics who have raved
about her, she remembers those who refused to mention
her name. For all the musicians who have praised her
ability to bring out the best in them, she remembers
those who wouldn't look her in the eyes.
She remembers them, but she also knows they are in
the minority. Mostly, there is acceptance, even appreciation
for Ben-Dor's talent, intelligence, and artistic insight.
"There is room for women, but it takes time for some
people to realize that," she says. "It's not easy. You
have to prove it. I realize how long it takes."
It shouldn't take too long. Her son had it figured
out by the time he was 3 years old.
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