Dorothy Khadem-Missagh: A Milestone for Women in the Conducting World
The Vienna Musikverein experienced a special event: the Lower Austrian pianist and conductor Dorothy Khadem-Missagh made her debut as a conductor in this renowned concert hall on the occasion of International Women's Day. Conducting the Beethoven Spring Festival Orchestra, which she founded, she presented a program that paid tribute to strong women in music history.
With her debut as a conductor at the Vienna Musikverein, Dorothy Khadem-Missagh has taken another important step in her impressive career and set a strong example for the role of women in classical music. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Bwag / CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Dorothy Khadem-Missagh was born in Mödling in 1992 and grew up in a family of musicians in Baden near Vienna. She received her first piano lessons at the age of three and was accepted to the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna at the age of six. Her musical education took her to the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she studied orchestral conducting.
An evening dedicated to strong women
The debut concert at the Musikverein was all about important female composers. The first piece performed was “Die Waffen nieder!” by Austrian composer Flora Marlene Geißelbrecht, a setting of the words of Nobel Peace Prize winner Bertha von Suttner. The second part of the evening focused on the French composer Louise Farrenc, who campaigned for the equal treatment of women as early as the 19th century.
A statement for equal rights
The concert was presented by the EU institutions in Vienna and was intended to set an example for equal rights. Khadem-Missagh emphasized the importance of the visibility of women on the world's stages and expressed her joy that more and more women are present in the music industry. With her commitment and passion, she serves as a role model for the next generation of female musicians.
Following her successful debut at the Musikverein, Dorothy Khadem-Missagh has international engagements in Israel and Japan coming up. The Beethoven Spring Festival in Lower Austria, which she founded and which takes place annually at Beethoven locations such as Baden bei Wien, Wiener Neustadt, and Gneixendorf, also begins on May 22.