Jessica Duchen has an eye-catching provocation in the former Independent newspaper, suggesting there is pressure on soloists to be sleek and slinky.
The strapline reads: ‘In all the concerts I’ve attended this year, I haven’t seen a single woman with an extra millimetre on the waistline. The pressure to be thin and beautiful is wasting time and talent.’ The rest is behind a paywall.
She has a point. If you’re a young pianist, Yuja is the one to match. Female violinists are under less pressure and cellists anyway play sitting down so their shape is unnoticed.
The trouble with all such generalisations is that there are exceptions. I know one brilliant young pianist who is so morbidly obese that I have seen surgeons approach her after a concert, offering to insert a bariatic band. There is no question that her size has imoacted her career, but I will always rush to hear here.
There are also some substantial gentleman pianists and at least one Russian exile who models herself on the late Tatiana Nikolaeva – proof, if ever there was, that portliness has nothing to do with performance.
I should also mention the prominent conductor whose weight balloons up and down, evidently out of control. Memo to orchestras: People with eating disorders need help. That applies also to near-anorexic soloists.
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