Zahia Ziouani, the conductor who leads her baton against prejudice

Juline Garnier 11:00 a.m., March 12, 2022

More female conductors.

In 2022, Zahia Ziouani is fighting to feminize this world of music, which for a very long time remained a male affair.

At 43, the director from Seine-Saint-Denis returned to her experience at the microphone of Europe 1. And the observation is severe: only 4% of conductors today are women.

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"You have to bear in mind that some orchestras in Europe, thirty years ago, prohibited women. Some fields, such as music, are slow to make room for parity in a certain number of positions. he orchestra is really the person who represents the authority within this great collective of musicians that is the symphony orchestra. So, it is true that today, it is a real fight to lead", explains she. 

In recent years, things have tended to move so that there are more women in orchestras.

Very few in number as conductors, they preferred to create their own orchestras in order to be able to express themselves.

An ambition that must be grasped from the start of a career.

"It's not at all a profession made for women"

From the beginning of her training, Zahia Ziouani encountered resistance, to the point of dissuading her from practicing the job of her dreams, conductor.

"In my childhood, I was rocked by the symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart. So I naturally wanted to make music. I started with the guitar at the Conservatory before doing the viola, specifies- she. As a violist, since I played this instrument to be part of orchestras, I was really at the heart of the orchestra, between the high notes, the low sounds, and placed right in front of the conductor. orchestra. It was there that I discovered this figure of music."

Her parents not being musicians, the director says she arrived carefree and naive in this musical environment.

"I started saying around me that I wanted to be a conductor. And when I was a young teenager, I was told that it was not at all a profession made for women, that I had to focus more on my instrument studies".

Some teachers, especially women, encouraged her to pursue her ambition despite everything.

The director then drew inspiration from the women in her family, whom she describes as combative, as well as from her encounters.

Meet the requirements and be flawless

"I had the chance to meet a great master of orchestral conducting who immediately welcomed me into his class, Sergiu Celibidache. He was indeed one of the greatest figures of orchestral conducting in the twentieth century, everyone dreamed of meeting him. On the other hand, he was someone very demanding", explains Zahia Ziouani.

According to what her master told her, women never lasted more than a fortnight in this class.

A way of showing that the art of management is terribly demanding, in order to be able to withstand the pressure and the search for excellence in this environment.

After 18 months at his side, she decided to start because "it is by conducting an orchestra that you become the conductor", she said.

But beyond the lack of women in this position, there were also very few young people.

In the major national orchestras, appointments are mostly made at the level of the State, of the Ministry of Culture.

And these large institutions still find it difficult today to trust new profiles.

"It's not easy when your name is Zahia and you grew up in Seine-Saint-Denis. I took the prejudices, the received ideas head on. So I was already asking myself a lot of questions", says she.

To succeed, he had to be technically flawless.

Reading sheet music, music history, analysis, knowing all the instruments.

Zahia Ziouani had to be flawless.

And since there were no opportunities, she decided to create her own orchestra, and therefore a project. 

An orchestra promoting diversity

With her twin sister, also a musician, she worked on her orchestra project.

It was necessary to define an artistic line, which the director wanted to be perfectly in tune with the 21st century and with a particular identity.

Hence the idea of ​​playing in the prison environment.

"I realized that we had done beautiful concerts of classical music. We saw them at the opera, we saw them in the big halls, at the Salle Pleyel, but not in the territory where I grew up. And that was indeed one of the first commitments, she explains. For me, it was to tell myself that I want to be on the biggest international stages, but also to go where culture is not. not necessarily present and make this music symphonic. This classical music is very accessible and popular in a good way. And so, it was my duty to approach music differently from what we usually did."

For the conductor, what is missing is parity within the world of music, but above all people who can bring a different perspective.

And what she tried to do.

"The important thing for me today is to say that there is no difference between playing at Stains, playing at Vaux-en-Velin or playing at the Philharmonie de Paris. We are dressed in the same way. These are the same works that we play with as much rigor, she confides. Because excellence also has the right to live in a prison environment, in an urban environment, in a rural environment."

It thus opens the way to the training of young musicians, to discover new potential.

Transmit a musical heritage

The director is keen to compare the music she plays with topical issues: the presidential election, being French today.

"Music is also a meeting place and for example, a work that I conduct a lot is the dance Bacchanale by Camille Saint-Saëns. He is one of the great French composers inspired by the music of Africa from the North and particularly from Algeria. And that's also what I want to share. My role is to pass on this musical heritage", concludes Zahia Ziouani.

It is by following this desire that his Divertimento orchestra will play its "Inspiration Orient" concert, in June 2022 at the Philharmonie.

The director also wants to involve the young talents of her training to prove "that we can do things together, even if we have very different backgrounds".