Frieda Belinfante 1904 - 1995 A talented cellist, educated by her Jewish father, the first female conductor in music history, a member of the Dutch resistance: The lives of Frieda Belinfante stretch over nine decades of the 20th century. |
 |
| Paragraph 175 • Frieda Belinfante • Just happy • ISHSS seminar |
|
“I've always been a persistent person. I don't take no for an answer. If it cannot be done, I would say: We'll see.”
Homepage: www.kmlink.net
Frieda Belinfante 1904 - 1995 A talented cellist, educated by her Jewish father, the first female conductor in music history, a member of the Dutch resistance: The lives of Frieda Belinfante stretch over nine decades of the 20th century. |
|
|
|
… But I was a girl tells the story of Dutch Frieda Belinfante, a lesbian who became the first female conductor in prewar Amsterdam, but retreated from a promising musical career after the German invasion of the Netherlands. Instead she dissolved her orchestra and went underground. At first Frieda was working alone falsifying ID cards for Jews in hiding, later with gay writer Willem Arondeus. Both participated in the preparations of one of the most daring acts of the Dutch resistance, the attack on the Amsterdam population registry in 1943. Frieda Belinfante survived as one of the few members of the group, for months hiding in men’s cloth. On her own, she escaped through Belgium and France to Switzerland in the winter of 1944 and was interned in a Swiss refugee camp. After the war she returned to the Netherlands and emigrated to the United States in 1947. She founded the Orange County Philharmonic Orchestra in the early 50’s and was its conductor for many years. The documentary of her extraordinary life is based on Klaus Müller's 1994 interview with the then 90-year-old Frieda Belinfante. But I Was A Girl Director • Toni Boumans Assistant Director and Interview Frieda Belinfante • Klaus Müller Producer • Frame Media Productions • 1999 Netherlands • 69 min • Screenings in Italy, USA, Netherlands, Germany |
