Less perfection, more space. Ellie Consta.

Inspiring a younger generation to feel safe with self-expression and still be taken seriously. Her Ensemble - created by violinist Ellie Consta - is a space where authenticity reigns. Beautiful music is the result.

Who are you?

Oh God, I’m still working that out. I’m Ellie Consta. I’m a violinist. Actually, I just changed my Instagram bio to ‘violinist/arranger/director’, which I never imagined. I run Her Ensemble and I also arrange stuff for people sometimes. I do whatever violin-related stuff anyone will pay me for basically.

It all started during that first lockdown. I was having quite a tough time, like so many others - all my work stopped very suddenly, I didn’t know how I was going to pay my rent and I was also really questioning if I even wanted to pursue a career in music. Was it all really worth it? So I was literally open to trying anything at this point – I even started giving my neighbours stick n’ poke tattoos. Maybe I could just do that for a living?

think I had a lot of creative energy and I didn’t really know where to put it. But it always came back to art or music, in some form. I realised that I do love classical music, I do love playing the violin. I love playing with others, but I didn’t like all aspects of the scene I was in. It wasn’t to do with the content, it was to do with the context.

I was living with my friends who are singers/songwriters and artists in the pop world and I started writing string parts for their songs for fun. I started working in a completely different way to what I had been used to in the classical world. It was so different on so many levels and that made me question why we do things so differently. Is there a reason, or is it just tradition? I realised I wanted to take the bits that I loved from both worlds, combine them and put my own spin on things.

Around the same time, I stumbled across this statistic - just 3.6% of the classical music pieces performed worldwide in 2019 were written by women. In 2020, it rose to 5%, which is the highest percentage ever recorded. I was like, ”Woah…!” And also - “how have I never realised that?” I’d been through music school, music college, the profession…yet I could only name a handful of female composers. How many classical gigs had I done and never questioned why none of the music I was playing was written by women? Pretty much everything I’d played was written by dead white men.

I guess all these things combined lit a fire in me. I felt like I’d been incredibly passive without even realising and I didn’t want to continue just floating by. I think that played a big part in it. And combined with working in this new way, writing string parts and improvising as well, I was like - fuck it. I don’t want to be passive for fear of making mistakes. That was a big part of it. Then I just asked my friends if they were interested!

So, your primary aim is to highlight women composers?

That’s where it all stemmed from. Then, I was comparing aspects of the pop and classical industry. I was thinking about things like - why is the concert dress gendered in orchestra? How does this uphold the patriarchy? What would I do if I were non-binary? Why have I never thought of that? Why are women not allowed to show their shoulders or ankles? - I’ve been told numerous times throughout both my studies, and in the profession that it looked bad on stage or it was inappropriate. That I didn’t look professional.

Can you imagine someone telling Dua Lipa that showing her shoulders is unprofessional?! I’ve never been told off for wearing trousers, but I have been told that my skirt or trousers are inappropriate because they weren’t long enough. Unsurprisingly, I still feel self conscious showing body hair in orchestra.

Quite recently I got told off because my heeled shoes were not elegant enough for the stage. Women often have to wear pop socks, to hide bare skin. It sounds so ridiculous when you say it out loud, but I just used to think it was normal and “that’s just the way things are” without really thinking about why.

Did you ever as a kid do a ‘go to work with your parents’ day? I tried imagining what it would be like to take one of my non-classical friends to orchestra with me. Even just trying to explain orchestral etiquette is so weird and ridiculous. It’s hard to zoom out and see the bigger picture whilst you’re in it though.

Having the ability to express your authentic self is another of the main aspect of Her Ensemble. Creating a space for people to be able to do that is fundamental. I wanted to create a space where people could take up space and be ‘too much’ and flourish. The thing with the dress code - it’s still in lots of places. Tails for men and formal/long black for women. One of my friends has just got a job in a really big orchestra and they’re having these conversations now, but it must be really tiring having to explain the need for visibility the whole time.

Just basic things like the importance of de-gendering dress codes. I can’t imagine having to do a trial or going in as a freelancer and having raise these issues. A lot of people are worried about making a fuss and not being asked back. It’s a real issue. I think as a group, we’ve come into our own over the past year. I had lots of ideas that have changed over time. I think at the beginning I found it challenging to verbalise everything that I was thinking or questing, concisely. I think I was worried about having all the ideas clear and perfect, but we are all constantly evolving and changing and actually I think it’s a good thing for ideas to change.

I don’t think there’s a specific end goal, I just want to explore and perform more music written by women that’s been overlooked and make a positive impact on the gender gap in the industry by making space for people of marginalised genders. Also, I want to make all this incredible music more accessible to people, because it’s often really hard to find as the same amount of time/energy/money/research hasn’t been invested, so the sheet music’s really expensive or hard to find or it’s not been published or there aren’t many or any recordings etc.

So I just want to make it easily accessible, and more accessible to a wider audience. Not just to a niche group of people. The way that music is programmed in a lot of orchestras is - they’ll have the main bit like a big Mahler symphony (which is obviously amazing), but then if a piece written by a woman is programmed, it will often feel like the token bit on the side, and more often than not it’ll also be a contemporary work, which feeds into this false impression that: 1. There just weren’t many female composers before the 1900s, and 2. That there just isn’t much music. But, the reality is that there is a plethora of music written by women, dating all the way back to 450 BC.

I’d love to see more large scale works by women being the main focus point. I’ve heard people make comments like ‘ugh..another atonal thing, written by a woman’.

Through creating this, I think I’ve definitely gained confidence. Before this, I was scared of doing things wrong (still am to be fair) - I’m a bit of a perfectionist, but I can see how this can limit me. You don’t play music to - the aim isn’t to be perfect. It’s to share a story or connect. It does all really stem back to working with my friends in the pop industry. The majority of them haven’t had the same classical training, or any training at all. I was taken aback by the amazing musicality, the love and how much energy they put into their work.

What has the reception been like?

Really nice. Surprisingly supportive. The majority of our audience is between 18-30 which is really cool. It’s also a much more diverse audience than your standard orchestral gig which is like, white and over 50. I’d like to reach the more traditional audience too of course, but a big part of the group is about creating hope for a better future.

I really hope to inspire a younger generation to feel like they can express their authentic selves and still be taken seriously in the industry. I want to show that classical music is for everyone, and you don’t need to look a certain way to fit in. And of course I hope that in the future people will be like “duh, obviously there have been loads of female composers” and we won’t have to push for equality.

What changes would you like to see happening within the profession?

Having more of a gender balance in the programming of concerts and the people we see on stage would be amazing. But also more women leading projects and generally we need more of a mix in genders behind the scenes too. Also, obviously less harassment.

We recently asked our followers on Instagram if and how they change their appearance to fit into the classical scene. The majority of replies were from women. It ranged from covering skin, hiding tattoos and piercings. One woman was asked to dye their hair back to a more ‘natural’ colour. Someone got told that their hair was too big. People are worried about speaking up, because they’re scared they won’t be asked back and lose out on work.

You shouldn’t have to choose between feeling uncomfortable and losing out on work. There are so many things. Just to create more space for people to be themselves, not to suppress parts of themselves.

Who are you?

I don’t know. I’m just fumbling around, trying to find meaning. God, that’s so hard. We’re all art, aren’t we? Art is life and I guess I’m part of that, on a very micro micro level.

Sometimes, when I feel that everything’s too much, I just remember that we are a tiny part of a constantly expanding universe and we are actually the constant, and time is just passing through us. So… that’s quite nice I guess?

photo: shane benson