Mums in Music – celebrating the artistry of motherhood
Opinion article by Lola Ganzarolli
Overview
An international soprano and singer-songwriter, Lola Ganzarolli (aka Lola G.) is returning to concert performances after raising two adorable children. next month she will launch a positive, engaging gross-roots campaign to fly the flag for mums in music.
Supported by case study stories from around the world, research on mums in music and debates, Lola G. believes there is a positive, welcoming and inclusive conversation to be had – one that can also help deliver improvement in the gender and equality debate in classical music and opera.
Lola’s story represents a positive celebration of being a mum in music, returning to music performance after raising two children. The beauty, the self-learning, the character development of raising children Lola channels into both her singing and song writing. Lola’s artistic journey has taken her to international stages and began with piano playing at the Gnessin’s School of Music, the Purcell School and then the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music. Around her first pregnancy, she discovered her voice as a songwriter.
She now returns to the stage with a greater sense of spiritual connection to music and her voice and an instrument, a channel for expression. Most recently this year, she made her singing debut at the Musikverein in Vienna and toured in India, starting with the Valentine’s Day concert at NCPA in Mumbai. She is currently preparing for performances in Italy, London and Barcelona, whilst also writing her one-woman show and studio album, set for release later this year.
Lola Ganzarolli on Mums in Music
Despite some progress being made in recent years, gender equality in opera & classical music remains a significant issue– with research showing the majority of orchestral repertoire is composed by men – and between 2023-4, there was a decrease in the overall representation of women composers, from 7.7% in 2021-22 to 7.5%. While some say that representation of women is growing slowly, there are clearly still significant barriers to overcome.
But, according to UK-based international soprano and songwriter, Lola Ganzarolli, also known as Lola G. the policy and culture debate on equality is looking down the wrong end of the telescope. Lola comments “Female artists don’t need a greater share of a man’s world; they need to be understood and celebrated for who they are – and on their own terms.
She adds: “Perhaps the biggest factor shaping many women’s creative and career pathways is motherhood. Many female composers and musicians need to take a break from music when they become mums. For many, time on music evaporates or changes form. Certainly, maintaining a direct presence at concerts and within the right industry circles often takes a back seat.
“In a music industry obsessed with “anti-age” beauty, with AI filters, body shape, and sometimes brutally engaged in ‘this week’s star’ or this week’s social media trend – mums can find it hard to re-engage with music performance later in life. And this applies to both amateur musicians, as well as career artists for whom many female artists are being constantly reminded about the marketing value of being young for the TV shows & cameras, fashionable for social media and sexy for album covers.”
“Music is a healing tonic for the heart and for the soul. Returning to music performing as a mum, I feel more spirituality in the music I perform; there is a wiser understanding of the world – ‘vissuto‘ as we say in Italia – the raw, unfiltered, lived experience, which together with humility is fully connected with the human condition and the enduring power of music to unite people in a troubled, polarised world.
“I am a better artist for the me that I bring back to music, I now sing and write with a greater clarity and meaning, a more fluent wisdom, love and care. I also understand better my instrument, my voice and my body, vocal technique and what to do to keep myself fit vocally, as well as my life style choices.”
“Song writing is something that was born in me during the time when I was trying to get pregnant. Unable to perform live, song writing kept me musically connected, allowing me time to discover another creative side of me. I’ve never studied composition, so I just followed my instincts and musical logic. Song writing of course, has also been a way to tell my personal life story, each song being a story and a reflection of what I have experienced and been through. Like for example, my song Sadness, which I wrote in memory of Lara, my mum, who passed in my arms in early 2019.”
“What I’ve learned about music’s place in the world and what I have to say as an artist now all comes from my life experience as a mum. Many believe that conductors get better the older they get, because of the wisdom of interpretation that comes with time and life experience, and for men it can take many decades to hit their spiritual prime. Women have a different journey. For many of us, in the second or third decade of our lives we focus on a new priority, the gift of life and the children we bring into the world and raise.
“The complex emotional, spiritual and human growth that develops through being a mum gives us a unique lens through which we can reconnect with music in our 40s. Unlike men, we don’t have to wait until we’re in our 70s or 80s.
“And yet no one in classical music talks about motherhood, either as a challenge to the career-hungry, or as an empowering creative enabler – a spiritual and artistic gift – to celebrate in human and creative terms.”
“From conversations I have had over the years, there are many mums that leave music careers when they start a family – and sometimes there’s no way back, which is a tragedy, when musical journeys end too soon… There are many passionate amateur musicians that stop playing music after childbirth, and the months become years, as many stop going to the concert hall; relieved instead to just have a few exhausted, quiet hours, when the kids have been bathed and gone to bed.
“From a marketing perspective, trends in music are so brutally transient and fast-paced, it seems as everyone overlooks the life journeys that actually make people more relevant, spiritually-tuned, resilient and socially-connected artists.
“This is where the magic in music performance creation – where art – comes from, and it’s why having more Mums in Music matters so much.
“We don’t need a higher percentage of women in music to fill some kind of quota or labels – we need women of all ages and life stages feeling able to keep their musical journeys alive, and being supported and encouraged to return to music as active and working mums. Being mothers defines many women, it’s not a barrier or a hindrance to work on artistic pathways – it’s actually a positive enabler and spiritual and artistic source of enrichment.
“In the music industry we need to call time on women having to be like men to get on – and we need to be celebrated for who we are. Join me in starting a new and empowering conversation on: Mums in Music – giving a voice, a platform and a confidence-boost for mums worldwide that want to return to music.
“We all celebrate the enduring power of Mother nature in keeping our world balanced and beautiful. The music world would be so much more caring, loving and beautiful with the Mums in Music back centre-stage, celebrated, cherished and thanked for the contribution they make to their music families – and to our global music community.
Photo by Christie Goodwin