Maestra 2023

Last night we saw Maestra on Netflix, and I would like to recommend it to anyone reading this blog (or this blog post). It began as a look at a few of the finalists in the 2022 Maestra Competition as musicians set as well as their lives as women: women who have to compete in a world dominated by dominant men, mothers who have to work away from their children, women who want to be mothers, women who have to make a choice between a career and a family, and women who want to make career moves that can offer a more stable life. And then in the competition phase of the film we as audience members are asked (not really asked, but we all try to develop an opinion) to decide who we think the winner should be. As one can imagine the standards were extremely high.

The film took an enormous of thought, talent, time, and money to make. It was excellently filmed, excellently edited and directed, and created, from what must have been a huge amount of material filmed all over the world over the course of a few years, a really compelling narrative.

I appreciated hearing the last movement of the Clara Schumann Piano Concerto (three times) as one of the required pieces, and was delighted to hear music by Louise Farrenc as well.

At the final ceremony I saw the face of Natalia Raspopova, a conductor I know (she was the assistant conductor of the Champaign Urbana Symphony in 2023). Natalia, who is an excellent conductor, was in the quarter finals of the competition.