Romely Pfund conducts traditional New Year's Eve concert

Romely Pfund made history with her first permanent engagement in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In 1987, at the age of 32, she became general music director and artistic director of the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Born in Dresden, she was the first woman to head a German professional orchestra and remained the only female chief conductor for a long time after the fall of the Berlin Wall, even in reunified Germany. At the age of 68, Pfund, who is now head of studies at the opera stage in Lübeck, is returning to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern after a long and successful conducting career.

In Schwerin, where she had already conducted the Mecklenburg State Orchestra at the beginning of her career in 1985, she will be the first woman to conduct the traditional New Year's Eve concert with Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the State Theatre this year. "A very appealing task, with a very good and highly motivated orchestra," says Pfund on the sidelines of an orchestra rehearsal.

She has the comparison, as she has already conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Radio Orchestra, among others. As a guest conductor, Pfund, who was practically born into a family of artists in Dresden, has conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Even though women can be seen more often as conductors today, they are still clearly in the minority in the role of chief conductor of renowned orchestras. "It's a damn hard job to lead an orchestra. There are a thousand things to do and the music is only a small part of it," Pfund reports from many years of personal experience. Family life often has to take a back seat - and men are usually more willing to do this than women.

However, there is no stopping the trend towards women taking on more orchestral leadership in the future. "But they have to want to do it with all their heart and soul," emphasizes Pfund. She cites the Ukrainian Oksana Lyniv, who was the first woman to stand on the podium at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth and was appointed General Music Director of the Italian Teatro Comunale di Bologna in 2022, as a successful example. This makes her the first woman to lead an opera house in Italy.

A success that was also supported by Pfund. "During my time as General Music Director of the Bergische Symphoniker, we established an orchestra academy in Solingen and Remscheid that is unique in Germany, which is also specifically dedicated to promoting young female conductors and awards scholarships. Oksana was one of these scholarship holders," says Pfund, who herself attended conducting courses with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa and Kurt Masur, among others.

Schwerin's theater director Hans-Georg Wegner is convinced that visitors to the end-of-year concert are in for a special musical experience. "One of the most experienced German conductors is on the podium, with the greatest musical expertise and tremendous charisma," says Wegner. With her work, Romely Pfund has made a significant contribution to the fact that talented female conductors are now confidently making their own way on the podium. At the Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle's 4th symphony concert at the end of January, 26-year-old Anna Handler will take over the baton, a young woman who has already caused a stir in the professional world.