Katherine Needleman is a wonderful oboe player,  who has been the principal oboist of the Baltimore Symphony  since 2003. She’s also active as a solist and chamber musician, and is on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.  She is a champion of music of our time and you’ll find her recordings and many projects on her website. To many listeners in the Classical Music world, she’s probably better known for her Substack articles and posts on social media that address misogyny, sexual misconduct and assault, and the lack of diversity and equity in the Classical music world. In this conversation you’ll hear about some of her activism and advocacy work , and different aspects of Katherine’s life as a musician, including her work as a composer and educator, and mentors including Jennifer Higdon. Please note the timestamps to navigate the episode.  I regret that I didn’t get into improvisation with her, because she’s also an excellent improvisor and has put out an album of improvised chamber music “The Marmalade Balloon”. Perhaps we can get into this next time she comes on the podcast! Linked here: podcast, video and transcript.

Karen Donnelly is the Principal Trumpet player of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, and a well-known educator. In this episode, we get to hear Karen's beautiful playing, and I talk to her about her background, her work with the Canadian Women's Brass Collective , some of her unique outreach work and her resilient practice routine!