Mojca Lavrenčič wins La Maestra 2026
The Slovenian conductor Mojca Lavrenčič, who is currently studying with Andrea Marcon at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, has won the La Maestra competition in Paris.
Mojca Lavrenčič was born in Vienna in 1993 and grew up in Slovenia. She studied conducting at the University of Ljubljana with Marko Letonja and gained her first professional experience at the SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, where she assisted guest conductors and conducted opera and ballet productions. To deepen her artistic approach, she is continuing her training in Switzerland with Andrea Marcon at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where she is refining her interpretative voice in a stimulating international environment.
The international conducting competition La Maestra was launched in 2019 by the Philharmonie de Paris and the Paris Mozart Orchestra. The competition is complemented by an academy that provides professional support to the prizewinners for two years. It is co-directed by Claire Gibault (Artistic and Musical Director of the Paris Mozart Orchestra) and Olivier Mantei (General Director of the Philharmonie de Paris).
Despite progress, writes the competition, the proportion of women at the helm of permanent orchestras is still very low. While only 4.3 percent of orchestras worldwide were led by women in 2018, this figure is now only 8 percent. In France, the number of women at the helm of permanent orchestras rose from 2.7% in 2019 to 12.5% in 2023: a spectacular leap, but we are still a long way from equality.
