Antonia Brico was a remarkable conductor whose early successes in the 1930s were later hampered by the ingrained sexism of the world of classical music. Born in 1902 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Antonia Brico was raised by foster parents who moved to Oakland, California, when Antonia was six. Her parents renamed her Wilhelmina Wolthuis, but sometime after high school, she changed her name back to Antonia Brico. Brico played piano from an early age and by the time she graduated from high school she was performing in recitals and had developed an interest in conducting. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated with a liberal arts degree. While at the university she worked as an assistant to Paul Steindorff, the director of the San Francisco Opera, which deepened her interest in becoming a conductor. In 1927, Brico became a student at the Berlin State Academy of Music. While there she was a student of Karl Muck, the conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Antonia was the first American to graduate from the academy’s master class in conducting, and she continued her studies with Muck after graduation. Brico made her highly-praised debut as a professional conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1930. Throughout the early 1930s her career flourished. She had successful performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Hamburg Philharmonic. She toured Poland and the Balkans and returned to the United States to make several guest appearances as conductor of the Musicians’ Symphony Orchestra. Brico pursued various lead conducting positions but was unsuccessful in obtaining a post. In 1934 she founded her own orchestra composed entirely of female musicians, the Women’s Symphony Orchestra, in New York. She was a popular figure and was the first woman to guest conduct the New York Philharmonic in 1938. After four years she integrated men into the orchestra and renamed it the Brico Symphony and its popularity declined dramatically. Brico’s career in New York seemed to hit its limit during the years of World War II, both because of the war and the unwillingness of the major orchestras to consider a woman as principle conductor, a position she very much wanted. In 1942 she moved to Denver, Colorado, lured by the possibility of becoming principle conductor of the Denver Symphony. She had been a successful guest conductor there and had all the right connections and qualifications, but the position was given to a less qualified man. She was terribly disappointed but chose to remain in Denver and lived there for the rest of her life. While there, she founded the Bach Society and the Women’s String Ensemble. Eventually she became the director and conductor of the semi-professional Denver Businessmen’s Orchestra, eventually renamed the Brico Symphony. She held that post until she retired in 1985. During her years in Colorado, Brico also conducted the Denver Community Symphony and the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra and taught piano. In 1974, her most well-known piano student, Judy Collins, and director Jill Godmilow made a documentary film about Brico’s life called Antonia: A Portrait of a Woman. The film revitalized interest in Brico’s career and she received invitations to record and guest conduct, including several sold-out shows at the renowned Mostly Mozart Festival in 1975. Antonia Brico died in Denver in1989. This story is derived from the Wikipedia article “Antonia Brico,” with additional information from the August 5, 1989, obituary in the New York Times by Allan Kozinn, “Antonia Brico, 87, a Conductor; Fought Barriers to Women in 30s.”

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