Claire Gibault (born 31 October 1945 in Le Mans) is a French conductor and politician and a Member of the European Parliament for the south-east of France. She is a member of the Union for French Democracy, which is part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education and its Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. She is also a member of the delegation to the EU–Bulgaria Joint Parliamentary Committee and a substitute for the delegation for relations with Japan. Career Baccalaureate First prize for violin at the Le Mans conservatory of music (1958) Prize for harmony, fugue, counterpoint, aesthetics and the history of music, Paris Higher National Conservatory of Music (CNSM) (1968) First prize for conducting the CNSM orchestra, Paris (1969) Conductor of the Opéra orchestra, Lyon director of vocal training (solo and choral), Opéra of Lyon (1971–1978) Conductor of the Chambéry and Savoy orchestra (1977–1984) Musical director of Musica per Roma (2000–2002) Numerous concerts in Europe and the United States Knight of the National Order of Merit Knight of the Legion of Honour Officer of the Ordre des Palmes académiques Political career Since 2004 Claire Gibault has been an MEP, a member of the Committee on Culture and Education and of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. She was rapporteur for a draft report on the social status of artists in Europe, approved by a large majority in June 2007. Claire Gibault tries to defend modern feminism in order to give women the opportunity to have the same chances of success as men. This is what she is committed to within the European Parliament's Women's Rights Committee, on matters concerning women and poverty, the reconciliation of working life and family life or women migrants. Artistic career Born in Le Mans, that is where Claire Gibault began her studies. She won first prize for violin and chamber music at the Le Mans Conservatory before going to the Paris Higher National Conservatory of Music where she received first prizes for Orchestra Conducting, Harmony, Fugue and Counterpoint. From 1976 to 1983 she was Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Chambéry, and from 1983 to 1989 assistant to John Eliot Gardiner, then Music Director of the Orchestra of the Opéra National de Lyon. In 1995, she became the first woman to conduct the La Scala orchestra