Joana Mallwitz is the first woman to lead a Berlin orchestra. And, no, she hasn’t seen Tár

Joana Mallwitz wants to reach ‘people who don’t know how passionate they might yet be about classical music’. Photograph: Heiko Becker/AP

For months Joana Mallwitz’s image has been plastered on billboards throughout Berlin, heralding her arrival as the new chief conductor at the Konzerthaus. She is, they proclaim, “the next big thing”. A virtual unknown figure in the Berlin capital until recently, the musician says she can no longer go to the supermarket or local bakery without being recognised.

“The build-up was massive,” says Mallwitz, who was inaugurated last month. “I had to push it all away from me, saving myself as it were, by concentrating on getting to know the musicians, or on how I want to conduct bar 17 of a particular symphony.”