Charlotte -
There’s no better time to celebrate great leaders than right now. We’re going to need all the leadership inspiration we can get over the next four years.
Orin O’Brien was told many times that a symphony orchestra “was no place for a woman” when she became the first female member of the New York Philharmonic in 1966. Of course, women were - and still are - told by troglodytes that science labs, sports venues, C-Suites, Michelin-starred kitchens, and battlefields were also no places for women who, today, excel in all these domains. Carol Burnett was once told that comedy was no place for a woman. And hello Jock Semple who tried to forcibly remove Kathrine Switzer from the Boston Marathon in 1967. Switzer finished the race, and so did Carol Burnett and Orin O’Brien.
Leonard Bernstein chose O’Brien, which was both precedent-setting and brilliant. Now 89, O’Brien had a powerful, 55-year musical and leadership run with the Phil until her retirement in 2021. She also taught at Julliard for decades, understanding that great leaders concern themselves with mentoring and paying it forward for future generations.
One of Bernstein’s successors, Zubin Mehta once told The New York Times that, “I just don't think women should be in an orchestra." He was true to his dreadful prejudice as the Phil remained almost totally male during his leadership there from 1978 to 1990 while other orchestras could no longer suppress this tsunami of talent. She broke an important glass ceiling but, of course, mass media trivialized matters by writing things such as O’Brien being more curvy than her bass.
Learn more about O’Brien’s leadership, persistence, and talent in the new Netflix documentary about her, “The Only Girl in the Orchestra.”
