March 1, 1997
In Austria it was announced that the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra would allow Ann Lelkes, a harpist who had played with the orchestra for 26 years, to become an official member, in face of a threatened boycott of its 1997 U.S. tour of the VPO. The orchestra chair at the time opposed women, claiming an orchestra containing women ran the risk of being paralyzed by “mass pregnancy.” He also said it was an orchestra of white men playing music by white men for white men.
