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Articles
Associated Press
Maariv, Tel-Aviv, 2000
"When I Stood Up on the Stage, I Forgot That
I Was Pregnant..."
By Yehudit Hassel
"I want to be judged not as a woman, and particularly
in my present condition, a pregnant woman, but simply
on my professional work alone," says the 27 year
old conductor Gisèle Buka Ben-Dor, who took part in
the conductors' workshop under the direction of Zubin
Mehta. "If the workshop had taken place" said
the critics in the wake of the final concert with the
Philharmonic held last week, "merely to discover
Gisèle, that would have been enough."
The conductor who was acclaimed by the critics as the
'ray of light' and as the 'great promise' reached the
workshop quite by chance. "I completed my conductor's
course at the University of Yale about six months ago.
As my husband, who is an engineer, was offered a job
with an Israeli company in New Jersey, we decided, for
the time being, to live in the United States. So, I
came to Israel for a vacation and met my former teacher
Shalom Ronly-Riklis in the street. He told me of the
workshop which was to take place and said that he intended
to recommend me. I am simply very grateful to him. He
had neither seen nor heard me for three years and was
taking a chance.' After a moment she adds: "I might
have been a surprise for the worse in the same way that
I was a surprise for the better."
Gisèle Buka, on the verge of going into her ninth month
of pregnancy, was calm and relaxed on the morning of
the closing concert of the workshop, and showed no signs
of nerves. I remember always being nervous before a
performance, even when I conducted the school-choir
when I was 13. But this time it is different. I am sure
that pregnancy has had only a positive influence on
me - this is the body's defence mechanism for the foetus
inside", she says stroking her belly.
"Pregnancy does not interfere in any way with
my conducting. My legs hurt a little of course - but
all in all the physical effort is minimal. You conduct
with your hands and standing on the stage for half an
hour is nothing. I really forgot that I was pregnant."
Gisèle Buka was born in Uruguay to a Jewish Zionist
family. She emigrated to Israel when she was 17 and
continued her musical education which she had started
whilst still in Montevideo. After completing the Academy
and a conductors' course with Mendi Rodan and Shalom
Ronly-Riklis, she received a grant from the Cultural
Fund and went to the University of Yale in Connecticut
to study conducting.
Since strength and conducting go together, how does
this principle fit in with the image of the woman?
"When I conducted in Italy where I had taken a
course, I was unable to shake this norm. In Italy the
woman's place is in the home, raising children. In the
United States, because of the feminist movement, there
is open-mindedness, and women can undertake any so-called
male occupation. In my opinion, the well-known expression,
'conductors are born conductors', is equally true in
respect of women, although they are not sufficiently
aware of it. They do possess the right qualities.
Conducting, for me, is working with people, a combined
production of something beautiful. If the professional
ability exists it serves to persuade the musicians and
even to create the necessary respect.
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