Principal oboe files #Metoo complaint against US concertmaster

Principal oboe files #Metoo complaint against US concertmaster

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norman lebrecht

September 18, 2018

Katherine Needleman, principal oboe of the Baltimore Symphony, has filed a civil complaint against the orchestra claiming that it ‘failed to take meaningful action against repeated allegations of harassment and retaliation’ by the concertmaster, Jonathan Carney.

Anne Midgette and Peggy McGlone report:

In an interview with The Washington Post, principal oboe player Katherine Needleman said that Jonathan Carney, the orchestra’s concertmaster, approached her for sex when the orchestra was on tour in 2005 and, since she rejected him, has engaged in a consistent pattern of retaliation: ‘daily hostility and efforts to undermine [my] work and authority,’  she said, ‘combined with physical intimidation and threats.’ According to the complaint, Needleman reported the harassment to the orchestra several times, starting immediately after the 2005 incident. This March, the orchestra engaged an independent law firm to conduct an investigation, which concluded this month.

‘The report indicated that there has not been a hostile work environment,’ said Peter T. Kjome, the orchestra’s president and chief executive….

Read on here.

Comments

  • Mel says:

    Why is this oboist making so many appearances here? First she got her oboe buddies to gang up on a music critic to get him fired, then got into an altercation with a student and got fired by Peabody.

    • Don Ciccio says:

      Where did you hear that she was fired from Peabody? She’s still listed as part of the faculty: https://peabody.jhu.edu/faculty/katherine-needleman/.

      • Webster says:

        If memory serves, Peabody allowed Ms. Needleman to retain an existing student (perhaps students) until they graduated, but was not allowed any new students. She was certainly routinely abusive, both as a private instructor, as a coach, and as a colleague. She would frequently reduce students to tears.

      • Little Miss Muppet says:

        According to Marcell T. who posted on an older thread here, oboist Katherine Needleman is the Baltimore Symphony player who got dropped “for a harsh dispute with a student”

      • Stu says:

        I heard through the grapes that she was also suspended from the BSO in the past for homophobia against a colleague at the BSO. And reading about the poor critic here, and now this Peabody thing – she sounds like a piece of work! She’s now trying to destroy another man’s career.

    • Amy says:

      First of all, Ms. Needleman was not fired from Peabody. She resigned in the fall of 2016 due to a few reasons. All of her students were graduating that year except a few and offered to teach until they graduated. Also from my own personal experience, Ms. Needleman has been nothing but a supportive and encouraging teacher. She does hold her students to the high standards of music and is professional with all of her students and colleagues.

  • Wai kit Leung says:

    This story reminds me painfully of how Katherine Needleman made up lies, accusing me of attacking and bullying her (while in reality it was the total opposite), in order to get me fired as a music critic two years ago.

    • joshg says:

      Dude, let it go. You really don’t want to make yourself the victim here.

      • Doug says:

        Ahhhh, that’s right. Only women can be victims of evil intentions. Tell that to half of the 100 million victims of the injustice and evil of communism,

        • Sue says:

          You are talking to a wall, sir. And when people ‘fear’ telling others they’re conservatives you definitely know you live in a tyrannical, deep state. Just like their bolshevik and Chinese and North Korean cousins. If these twits knew the first thing about communism and its hideous ideology they’d return to classical liberalism.

      • Wai kit leung says:

        No, I am not the victim here. Jonathan Carney is.

        • Joshg says:

          Nevertheless, you used this as an opportunity to remind people that you were “fired” from your “job”.

          • Wai kit leung says:

            No, I was just telling people Katherine Needleman has a history of making up stories to get someone fired. How many more victims do we need? This needs to stop.

        • Another Musician says:

          I would have to agree with you, Wai Kit Leung. Jonathan Carney is being incessantly attacked by Katherine Needleman who is like a chronic headache for the BSO and who apparently only feels tall and proud in the role of the victim. What kind of person needs to bring others to ruin in order to feel good about herself? She has a very sharp tongue and a volatile temper. I think her colleagues know this about her and choose (wisely) to keep a distance. Notice how very few are commenting either here or in The Post.

          • James says:

            “What kind of person needs to bring others to ruin in order to feel good about herself?”
            You do, apparently, and anonymously at that.

        • anonymous says:

          In my experience, yes Needleman is not the most wonderful person herself, but I also know Carney well and have no doubts that she’s lying about this. Whether they’ll say so publically or not, most of the orchestra has witnessed his unacceptable behavior towards women.

          • Tire of the BS says:

            I was talking with my wife about this, after contacting a few friends that play with this oboist, and said it sounds like she’s been a pain from day one. I also told my wife about how this oboist hounded Wai Kit, one of the nicest people you will ever meet, for months after he had the audacity to say her CD wasn’t a gift from god. Hopefully the concertmaster will survive this nonsense.

          • ViolinPlayer says:

            In my experience with Mr. Carney, he was the most letcherous teacher I had. I only had a few lessons but there were frequent inappropriate comments made by him toward me and other people I know. What he did is totally what I would expect from him. He is getting what he deserves. I’m very happy.

          • Ms.Melody says:

            Anonymous,
            I am puzzled. You have” no doubts that she is lying, yet, whether they’ll say so publically or not, most of the orchestra has witnessed his unacceptable behavior towards women”. How do you reconcile the two statements?

          • Bill says:

            Ms. Melody,

            I agree the post is not a model of clarity, but here are the salient points:

            Needleman is not wonderful

            based on personal knowledge of the poster, Carney is not either

            women in the orchestra have seen Carney’s mistreatment of women

            based on those observations, the anonymous poster has concluded that though Needleman may not be a sympathetic victim, the allegations against Carney are credible

            Usually when one says “I have no doubts that she is lying” the intended meaning is that “she is lying, I have no doubt about it” rather than “she is not lying, I have no doubt about it” but this is neither the first nor the last time such an expression will be misused.

    • MacroV says:

      Yes, that was wrong, and petty. But it doesn’t necessarily mean she’s wrong in this case.

    • Riccardo Goodey says:

      Wai, leave the previous incident behind. Everyone had forgotten about it…’til you reminded us. The most professional action is not to respond to complaints about your opinion — to which you’re entitled and which is central to a critic’s job. I didn’t see anything amiss about your piece (and it was exceedingly unprofessional of Needleman to lash out; we ALL get varied reviews), but not everyone read it, and continuing to poke away erodes your reputation. Forge ahead with some positive new work…people like Needleman eventually get their just deserts. Be silent; she can spin enough rope to hang herself. She doesn’t need any help from you.

      • Wai kit leung says:

        Thanks for your advice Riccardo. I bought up my case purely to cast light on Ms. Needleman’s character and to help the real victim in this case, Mr. Carney. For your info, two years ago I didn’t respond to criticisms until after Ms. Needleman got me fired. She lied through her teeth to mislead the public afterwards, which is what I wanted to tell everyone about. I sincerely hope this is the last time I have to tell anyone of her behaviour, as she does not seem to have stopped destroying other people’s careers.

    • william osborne says:

      Whatever the value of Wai Kit Leung’s review or the nature of his dismissal from the webzine, he now clearly harbors resentments concerning Ms. Needleman. He is not in a position to impartially evaluate the allegations of harassment.

      Commenting at great distance, this case sounds like one where some sort of internal mediation in the orchestra might be effective and save everyone a lot of heartache. Perhaps they could at least try.

    • Hannah says:

      I read your article. She didn’t say anything about it that was untrue.

  • anon2018 says:

    A woman makes a complaint – and here comes the haters. That’s why people are reluctant to come forward with complaints like this – and the jerks continue their awful conduct.

    • Malcolm James says:

      The problem is that both ignoring complaints and treating all complaints automatically as the gospel truth are flawed approaches. Some serial predators and those guilty of only one past, but maybe serious, infraction may be getting their belated comeuppance, but some people are always likely to use Metoo as a means of pursuing personal vendettas. We need to ensure due process is followed to determine which category each complaint falls into.

      • barry guerrero says:

        +1. Exactly. As tedious as it might be, each and every case needs to be expertly investigated in an unbiased manner to get at the truth as to what actually transpired. Anything less than that simply falls into a “he said”/”she said” situation. ‘Punishment’ should dealt upon that which can be substantiated, and not from just hearsay.

        • Hannah says:

          I would also like to add that when an incident cannot be proven to have occurred, that is not the same as proving the incident did not occur. Every incident, proven or not, needs to be recorded, since subsequent incidents could occur that lend credence to prior ones.

  • Sad Musician says:

    This is becoming a hysterical now. Soon we are not going to have any men in the orchestras or they will be too afraid to even look at a woman. God forbid, she has the power of destroying his career just by saying that something happened sometime. And if a person like Katherine Needleman can do it, than ANYONE can! Apparently, approaching someone for sex (meaning hitting on them a number of times) is a crime. What a damn joke!
    More importantly, the article says that a law firm reviewed the allegations!!! And found “that there has not been a hostile work environment”. How is she still talking?
    10 years ago even, people would call her insane. But today, let’s all jump on the party bus, remember anyone that has ever hit on us in order to have sex, and if we don’t like them, let’s make a drama and destroy their career. “I am a victim! #metoo!”

    • MacroV says:

      There is nothing inappropriate about expressing interest in someone – once. If she said no and he engaged in retaliation, that is very wrong.

      And the law firm that investigated could be wrong.

    • Pianofortissimo says:

      Yes, it seems that the world is out of its axis nowadays – and it happens everywhere – Foulcault explais, it is not a matter of justice, it is a matter of power – see what is going on just now in the current SCOTUS nomination.

    • Ms.Melody says:

      It is utterly unbelievable that this woman has busy professionals on two or three continents debating and arguing about her for days.
      Baby, you can’t buy this kind of publicity.

  • anon says:

    Needleman is a bit over sensitive. The fact that an independent investigation found against her does not bode well for her civil suit.

  • Captain B. Obvious says:

    This is part of a high-level project. Destroy the heterosexual relationship via the “all men are pigs” meme. Invent 31 genders to screw up everyone’s mind so much that they spend much, much more money on lawyers, psychatrists, surgeons, and useless products of the pharmaceutical and other global industries.

  • Sue2 says:

    I cannot comment on this case specifically, but feel compelled to say that I knew John Carney well in the 1980s and can’t believe he would behave in this way.

  • Alexei says:

    If someone propositions you, say no or yes and move on, don’t spend your last penny on a lengthy lawsuit. I had a fleeting acquaintance with Narcissistic Needleman, one of the more unpleasant people in orchestral circles. I cannot imagine any regular interaction between the two (it’s not a boss/underling situation like Weinstein) and the individuals sit at least 20 feet apart. Time to toss out the snowflake routine and be a grownup. Unless he’s smashing her reeds or making faces during the “A,” what on earth could he do to damage her career?

  • anon says:

    She immediately complained after the first incident in 2005 but waited 13 more years before suing.

    So she knew it was harassment in 2005, had 13 years to build her case, yet the legal investigation still found no evidence of hostile work environment.

    Hmmm.

    • MacroV says:

      He initiated and got rebuffed in 2005. Over the years he then retaliated in one way or another, generally making her life and work difficult. She took it up with the management. All this takes time. Now, apparently unsatisfied after the orchestra’s outside consultant reviewed and found nothing troubling, she’s taking legal action. She might lose, but there’s nothing “Hmmm”-inducing about all this taking 13 years. What was the appropriate year in which to file suit?

      • anon says:

        The appropriate year to file suit is when she had enough evidence to make her case.

        She had 13 years to build her case, and she still failed to convince outside counsel. She is in a weaker position today, post investigation, than she was 1 year ago. Maybe she needs another 10 years to build her case, maybe she filed suit too soon.

        And that is my point: when you take that long to build your case and you still can’t make your case, maybe you simply don’t have a case.

        It matters not if it was year one in 2005 or year thirteen in 2018.

        • Weezy says:

          She is trying to use the #metoo movement to her advantage. There is absolutely no mention of sexual harassment or assault. Trying to make this sound like a #metoo incident is weak at best.

          • MacroV says:

            I don’t believe she ever said “MeToo.” She said he came on to her (however you want to describe it), she declined, and in the ensuing years he has made the work environment difficult for her, which she assumes is the result of having rejected his overtures. Retaliation (or just being a jerk) in the workplace toward someone who turned you down for sex is not acceptable. In this case there’s not a supervisor/subordinate relationship, since they’re basically equal in the BSO hierarchy, but it’s still not acceptable.

            Now, maybe he just doesn’t like her for some other reason and feels no need to make an effort to be nice. But at some point behaving badly toward a colleague is a problem the management needs to deal with. I think I’m glad I’m in a job where all the colleagues and supervisors change every 2-3 years.

          • Wai kit leung says:

            Macrov, you are talking as if Ms. Needleman’s version of the story is the truth, which may or may not be the case. Does it occur to you that the retaliation she described might be fictional? She has told many lies before, sometimes using a number of fake online accounts/identities.

        • Been There says:

          Your comment reads as if you know the particulars of all motivations, as well as all decisions and actions taken by Ms. Needleman and the BSO administration during the entire period of time in question. If so, do tell. If not, please refrain from broadcasting your censorious assumptions.

      • Weezy says:

        “I was definitely emboldened by the #MeToo movement,” Needleman said of her decision in January to file a new complaint.
        In addition, Midgette also mentions the egregious cases that came out recently about the Cleveland and NYP musicians.
        If you’re admitting it is not a #metoo case, Midgette and Needleman clearly made it one and are using it to their advantage.

        It is unfair that any random outsider will see the #metoo, and automatically see Carney in a negative light and associate him with sexual harassment or assault, even though this particular case nowhere near approaches the other terrible stuff going on in the music world.
        And about this “retaliation,” don’t you think it is at all possible that Needleman is overly sensitive and exaggerating? After years and years of complaints and investigation, they recommended sensitivity training for Carney and anti-harassment training for all employees.
        So in order to get what she ultimately wants(to get Carney fired), she uses the #metoo card, which you already admitted is not appropriate for this case.
        I normally side with women in all the other #metoo cases, but this one is a stretch.

  • Papagena says:

    I would like dearly to support any victims of sexual discrimination in professional orchestras, but unfortunately I don’t think she is the best poster child for the cause. She has quite a social media history.

    I supported her thru the music review fiasco, which was written up here http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/artsmash/bs-ae-oboe-needleman-leung-kerfuffle-20160714-story.html

    In re-reading this article I see there was a related article about a precious oboe being stolen. Someone else commented here that there was a situation at Peabody. She appears to be someone who enjoys being in the spotlight. This is great, considering her position, but it weakens her credibility in a discrimination case like this. 3 big articles about a Principal Oboe focusing on negative personal matters is 2 too many.

    Her public image seems to draw heavily on the Blair Tindall precedent, which is great for selling books and tv shows, but not so great for working as a team player in a major orchestra.

    A striking parallel is the oboe mob internet “blitz” that inundated the reviewer who spoke poorly of Ms. Needleman’s CD and the similar oboe mob blitz that hit the Amazon reviews (mostly positively) for “Mozart In the Jungle” about the time it was being considered as a regular series. Turns out that Ms. Tindall had in large part orchestrated the blitz, requesting her friends and fan to write positive reviews. This is fine, but the response in both cases from the well meaning online oboe community was overwhelming. I can understand why the unsuspecting Chinese oboe critic, snarky as he might have been, felt sabatoged. Needleman should have let it go. Now when she’s facing a legitmate, serious issue which a lot of female orch. players would like to get behind, she’s lost her credibility.

    Take Elizabeth Rowe, Principal Flute in Boston as an example of how to do it right. She’s addressed one issue publicly: pay inequality as a female Principal. You don’t see her sparring on social media with her critics. She has credibility, her actions have impact. She has no trivial social media issues clouding her reputation.

    I’ll follow this case, I’ll support Ms. Needleman as best I can, but to repeat: she is not the best poster child for this cause.

    • Georges Sand says:

      Jealous much? Impossible that a pit oboe player could generate a half million positive reviews from friends, for a series created by Francis Ford Coppola. Maybe an MBA is the next step, the thinly-veiled Miss (or soon to be when hubby gets a load of your legal fees) Needleman? Hmmmm?

      • Papagena says:

        Hi, Georges. I’m not following your point or else you’re jousting with windmills. Maybe both.

        If you’re speaking of Blair Tindall, she cut her teeth at the very highest symphonic levels, in the NY Phil. She’s no random “pit oboist”. If you missed that you need to read her book. It’s pretty much the whole point.

        She made an impressive career change and earned a degree in journalism from Stanford. As a journalist it was her professional perogative to encourage reviews on Amazon, and she had understandable support from the oboe community. It was a win win situation. There were no victims.

        Ms. Needleman’s situations seem to call on the same oboe internet blitz mob but unfortunately there are victims. She’s also a sitting Principal Oboist, so it’s pushing the envelope professionally. And she is right out there actively sparring on social media about this, having just presented a letter from another female musician about the concertmaster in question. This strikes me as conflictive and I would imagine it’s hard on other orchestra members who play in this ensemble. It’s not very classy to to say the least.

        No idea who you’re talking about being thinly veiled or the legal fees stuff. Seems a bit incoherent, frankly.

        Francis Ford Coppola, BTW, had nothing to do with Mozart In the Jungle. It was developed by his son, Roman Coppola.

        • Blair Tindall says:

          MITJ was developed by the whole family and their production company, American Zoetrope. My specific deal was with nephew Jason Schwartzman. You will note that Anton Coppola had a significant role.

  • Been There says:

    I support Ms. Needleman fully in her efforts to protect her work environment. Perhaps it is not clear or not mentioned in the article that ever since the initial unprofessional come-on, Ms. Needleman followed procedure and engaged with BSO administration to address the problem. Several administrations later and no redress, Ms. Needleman was left with no choice but to file the EEOC complaint.

    Ms. Needleman is a consummate professional, who, like Anita Hill, just wants to do the job she loves. The frat house atmosphere during the Temirkanov years at the BSO, which I witnessed first hand, was very much the tone set by the concertmaster.

  • Old Man in the Midwest says:

    New policy approved by the League of American Orchestras:

    All male finalists in an audition must be a castrati or become one before a contract is offered.

    • Wai kit leung says:

      Another policy to consider:

      Anyone who did not make it past the 1st round of the principal oboe audition should not be hired for the job.

      • Anon58 says:

        That is an ugly and vicious addition to this thread. You obviously have one huge axe to grind. Get help. “Holding on to old resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die.”

      • Bruce says:

        Hahahahaha

      • Tired of the BS says:

        Wai Kit, did she not make it past the prelims?

        • Another Musician says:

          Tired of the BS, it is true that Katherine did not pass the preliminary rounds. She herself mentions this fact quite often around her colleagues of the BSO. The two finalists in that search had not been hired by Temirkanov so the committee doubled back to consider players with great references and reputations.

      • Bruce says:

        Seriously though, sometimes a person can be a great audition player but not a great performer. Sometimes they are great performers but not great at auditions. This is why it makes sense, sometimes, if there is no winner at an audition, to invite people to play for a week as a guest. If you limit yourself to great audition takers and then are not happy with any of them, you may have deprived yourself of some excellent performers. The week of rehearsals and performances can be quite stressful, but it is not the same as standing behind a screen and playing a list of excerpts anonymously. Several orchestras have provisions for this in their master agreements, and I would bet that some of those orchestras have ended up hiring (and being very happy with) people who did not make it past the first round in the actual audition.

        • Bruce says:

          P.S. I neither have, nor claim, any knowledge of how Ms. Needleman won her job in Baltimore. I was talking about a thing that happens in the orchestra business from time to time.

  • Melisande says:

    Why is Miss Needleman’s name so familiar? She is the oboist who received a (mildly) critical review, then, with a group of friends she organised herself, hounded the reviewer. Here’s the relevant section (now hidden) from her Wikipedia page:

    In 2016, Needleman released a CD of duets for oboe and piano. Upon its receiving a review that contained some criticism of Needleman’s playing,[2] Needleman was caught harassing the reviewer, an oboe specialist. She broadcast the reviewer’s private information over Facebook pages and incited friends and colleagues to send threats and abuse.[3] The influential British journalist Norman Lebrecht describes Needleman’s organisation of an ‘online hate mob’ as ‘reprehensible conduct’, saying she should ‘learn to cope with bad reviews’.[4] The founder of BIS Records, Robert von Bahr, explained that he ‘couldn’t find any trace of Needleman trying to hold back her minions/lynch mob at any stage’, and that not speaking out against about the abuse, at the time or subsequently, ‘speaks volumes’.[5]

    Needleman complains now of ‘harassment and retaliation’ from Mr Carney. Of course, we should condemn any such behaviour. It is concerning, though, that Needleman clearly has a history of harrassment and retaliation herself.

    • The View from America says:

      Considering the last name of the person in question — “Needleman” — perhaps all of this behavior was preordained.

    • Bruce says:

      I read that review back when all the fuss happened. As I recall, the review was not actually bad. He went into a fair amount of detail about why he prefers the European style of oboe playing to the American style, and then said that — although he had some quibbles with her musical choices regarding tempi & whatnot — she is very good at the American style, so if you like that style, you should buy this CD. It wasn’t a rave review, but I thought it was respectful.

      • Wai kit leung says:

        The record label that published Ms. Needleman’s album found my review decent enough to post an excerpt of it on their official page for the CD album, fully crediting me and MusicWeb. It was unfortunate that Ms. Needleman thought otherwise

  • Mark says:

    I see, Mental Midgette of Washington Post has found herself a new career as a #MeToo furie – finally some fame after languishing in obscurity as a third-rate critic.

    • Jaime Herrera says:

      Yes, I think you are quite right. All oboists need therapy occasionally but this one seems to need it more….. I wonder how they all make music together. It sounds like they are ALL pretty much being bullied by her….. Just guessing, of course – I wasn’t even there.

    • adista says:

      Mark has indeed nailed it

  • Sue says:

    “Harassment and retaliation”? The Left’s poison is now complete; everybody is a victim, nobody should be better than anybody else and with smug certainty they can assure themselves they’re ‘good people’ because they vote Left. The horror!!

  • Viola Player says:

    When I was First Viola I asked a lady in the second violins if she would like to go out for a drink. She said no. Six months later I asked the same question and received the same response. I didn’t ask again. This was 25 years ago and we were both playing in the university orchestra at the time. I haven’t seen her since.

    If the lady in question states on social media tomorrow that I harassed her and made her feel uncomfortable at the time, who will be believed? She will. If she states that I’m a sex pest and should be denied employment as a musician, what will happen? I’ll lose my job. #metoo

    • MacroV says:

      Not really. In such a situation you explain exactly what happened, as you did here. And since you haven’t seen this woman in 25 years and presumably no witnesses to contradict you, it won’t go anywhere. In the present situation you have Needleman saying Carney came on to her, she rejected the overture, and ever since he has engaged in various forms of retaliatory behavior. And since they play in the same orchestra, there are probably witnesses, not only to their interaction but to Carney’s behavior with others. We’ll assume your behavior with colleagues has been exemplary, so little likelihood of any corroboration.

      • Wai kit leung says:

        How come those other orchestral musicians didn’t notice anything Ms. Needleman has noticed, in freaking 13 years? I am sure many of them were interviewed during the investigation.

        You are again talking as if Ms. Needleman’s version of the events is the truth, may is more likely not to be the case given the three rejections of her complaints.

  • Anon says:

    Incredibly obvious that Katherine wants to be a #metoo victim – which is a really real problem and one that is being addressed, however, in this sad case the real victims stay hidden in mess that false “victims” create. As a woman, this is men hating and makes me livid, because it completely undermines the purpose and importance of this movement. She was already principle oboist! Sticks and stone can break your bones but words can never hurt you! She is chucking sticks and stones in response to some alleged words!

  • Steve Doyle says:

    Seriously?!?!? It’s not a hard concept to grasp that if a woman is uncomfortable with you language or advances, then just stop. Just effing stop and move on . All you people bashing Ma, Needleman are part of the problem, it why #metoo is as extreme as it is, You don’t listen to the victims, you dismiss their credibility within seconds because you know the accuser and they’re a nice guy. This is the damn problem and until you sexist moronic fools get it through your think skulls that these allegations aren’t going away, and that you can’t dismiss them, things will only get worse, not better.

    And to Wei Kit Leung, you have no credibility so seriously, STFU and to whine to people who give a damn. I remember your review from 2 years ago and it wasn’t constructive, it was written like a whiny, know-it-all, pain in the ass. Writing like that gives real music critics bad names.

    • Another Musician says:

      Steve, you sound like someone who has never been cyber-bullied, bullied or mobbed. These are very traumatic situations, confusing and devastating. Bullying is so harsh it can cause heart attacks and death. Bullying is isolating as it can strip one of everything they’ve ever worked toward or loved. It can throw a person into despair and depression and rage. This happens whether the target is a child or an adult. You only have to be human to be utterly traumatized by bullying. Bullying is abuse. Mobbing is mass abuse. And a human being cannot control the way his or her body/mind responds to the abuse. It can be life-ruining and health-ruining. Furthermore, Mr. Leung, if I remember correctly, is from Hong Kong, a Chinese society. Shame is probably one of the worst punishments one can experience in a Chinese society. I find your insensitivity to him and what he has been through appalling. It would be better to see you offer some sympathy and support instead.

      • Anon says:

        His review was snarky. Her response to it was snarky. Neither one has learned much because they are both still acting that way. He has made a nasty comment here and she is out on social media berating the concertmaster despite the lawsuit she has pending.They deserve each other.

        If Hong Kong society is so polite he should have written a more polite review. If she’s Principal Oboe of a major US symphony she should have let it go.

        We’ve got an oboe Brat Pack here. Oboists behaving badly. Wai Kit Leung, Katherine Needleman, Liang Wang and Pierre Roy, former Principal Oboe of Buffalo. Anyone else we can add to the list?

        • Wai kit leung says:

          With due respect to your view, I wrote 29 reviews for MusicWeb and only 2 were less than positive. Should I just write rave reviews on all the discs that come my way in order to be “polite”? The whole point for me to start writing reviews was to be honest and unbiased.

          After someone wrecking my life with lies, libels and slanders, it was really fair game for me to point out how she got her job, which is an unbiased fact, and explains why her album didn’t meet my expectation as a listener.

          I really should feel honoured to make it to your top-four list for having done so little!

          • Anon2 says:

            And sadly, the tragedy of an oboist who was accused of sexual harassment. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/us/23iowa.html

          • Joshg says:

            Now she has “wrecked your life”?
            What happened to “I’m not the victim here”?

          • Wai Kit Leung says:

            Someone commented on me and I responded. I would have gladly taken the discussion offline.

            You only post comments when I talk about this. What’s up with that? You want to silence Needleman’s victims?

            Enough, this news is not about me. It is about Katherine Needleman’s recurring pattern of behaviours.

          • Wai kit leung says:

            ANON2, this suicide is well-known in the oboe community, one that I am sure Ms. Needleman has heard of.

            I talked to a well-known oboist about this, and it turned out that the student had auditioned for his studio. He told me “it could have been me”. He said at the time he found the student unusually flirty. I think he thought the accusation was groundless.

            It is very easy for female predators to take advantage and ruin men’s lives.

        • almost-retired says:

          I know one! can’t say HIS name though.

        • Wai kit leung says:

          Just that everyone know, this “Anon” has used multiple identities to attack me on these Needleman threads. She admitted “I don’t want to be identified when I’m writing. I basically want no identity, no continuity with anything else I’ve said, nothing. Most of the time, I just want the freedom to comment.” Under the name “Papagena”, she attacked me as being “anti-all things American”, and clamoured for my ban from this site. She attacked my character multiple times, but I will be kind to her and not do the same.

  • Ted says:

    “Or sai chi l’onore
    rapire a me volse,
    chi fu il traditore…”

  • Itsjtime says:

    My bet is that she is sitting in the philly or nyp principal chairs, soon.
    She is pretty, pretty, pretty ….pretty good.

    • anon says:

      Not. No one wants a whiner as a colleague. No one wants a victim either, she’s damaged goods.

      She’s stuck with Baltimore for the rest of her career, better make the best of it.

  • Jane says:

    She’s one of the best oboe players I’ve ever heard. No one should have to deal with the disrespect and harassment she has evidently had to endure from a concertmaster no less. She has a record of trying to deal with this harassment issue for years along the avenues provided at the BSO, so this is hardly whining. It’s her frustration because the BSO won’t do anything significant about it. When a woman is assertive in the work place, they often call her “whiny” or a “B……”. Whereas, a man is just assertive and aggressive. She’s hardly “damaged goods”. She probably has more talent and true spunk in her pinky finger than you’ve ever shown in your whole life.

    • Ms. Ainsley says:

      Well said!

    • Saxon Broken says:

      Sigh…it is an open question about what happened. She may well genuinely believe she has been harassed (but it is possible she is being vindictive for some reason). But that does not mean the allegations are true. It seems that the orchestra have investigated several times and not found anything wrong in his behaviour. To win her case she is going to have to demonstrate that they haven’t conducted the investigation properly.

  • Luigi Nonono says:

    Leung does only what women are being allowed to do and he is attacked for it. Shame on you. Double standards. Gender discrimination cuts both ways. At least Needleman filed a civil complaint instead of trying a case in the media; and no doubt it will be investigated and dismissed, and perhaps she will deservedly lose her job. As a student, she was a fairly outstanding player. Too bad. But she’s no Blair Tindall.

  • Ms. Ainsley says:

    Has the Baltimore Symphony created a culture of ‘acceptable’ harassment among musicians AND staff by not taking employee complaints seriously?

    How many musicians and staff members have left the BSO because they believe nothing will change and they no longer want to work with their harasser? Inquiring minds want to know…

  • Vulcan Spring says:

    An independent Law Firm looked into this and found…wait for it…nothing.

    Except maybe one thing; a hysterical woman. With quite a track record it seems.

    Needleman. Maybe the clue is in the name?

    • Ms. Ainsley says:

      This is incorrrect. What the investigation proved was the behaviors did not rise to the level of being called ‘illegal sexual harassment’.

      The BSO has admitted that Carney’s behavior was inappropriate. Inappropriate.

      The BSO has created a work environment for musicians AND staff where harassment is condoned (sexual, age, race) because the perpetrators are part of a protected class.

      Giving ‘sensitivity training’ is not enough.

      • Enquiring mind wants to know says:

        Can you define “protected class” in that orchestra?

      • Another Musician says:

        Speaking from within the orchestra to which both Mr. Carney and Ms. Needleman belong, I would say to you, Ms. Ainsley, that white male privilege has absolutely nothing to do with this situation but rather inadequate management at the time of the original encounter (2005-2006 season) has everything to do with where we are today. Generalizations only go so far.

        • Ms. Ainsley says:

          The privilege is real. The BSO has not done enough to create a safe and healthy work environment for ALL employees, musicians and staff. Carney is responsible for his actions. The BSO admitted Carney’s behavior was inappropriate. It just wasn’t severe enough to be deemed illegal.

  • Webster says:

    I can’t speak to the BSO issue at all, nor will I try to. I can speak to Ms. Needleman’s overall behaviour at Peabody, however, which did follow a pattern of breaking other people down. She routinely left her own students in tears, and was hardly kinder to others’ students. I’m not sure what Peabody incident it was that apparently was referenced here before, as there were several, but one particularly egregious one involved her behaviour while acting as a sectional coach for a rehearsal of the school’s orchestra. One of the clarinettists, an adult MM candidate, had her legs crossed in front of her at the ankles, and Ms. Needleman called her out on it and gave her a dressing down in front of the whole group. The student had apparently never, at any time in her training, had an instructor admonish her for this, and is a very fine player nonetheless. Needleman’s tone, true to form, was caustic and insensitive, and caught the player very much by surprise. The student ended up fleeing the sectional, ashamed and in tears. Needleman subsequently tried to insist that the student be pulled from the concert and have her orchestra grade reduced. I don’t know how this last ended up playing out, other than the fact that it ultimately required the involvement of the music director, woodwind department chair, and senior administration. Ms. Needleman was a perennially difficult presence at Peabody, having thorny relationships with students, faculty, and administration alike. I’m not surprised to see her involved in yet another controversy. None of this lets Mr. Carney off the hook if the extent of the situation is indeed how she has portrayed it, of course, but it does speak to the kind of person she is, and her pattern of tearing down rather than building up. The relationship between truth, perception, and memory can be extremely complex, especially when fueled by a decade-long grudge.

    • Anon06 says:

      I’m puzzled about the dressing down given to a clarinet player for crossing her feet. In some years as a pro player in a variety of different (not small-time) situations, and some years as a conservatory student before that, no one has ever made any mention of it to me. And if I’m not mistaken I think Anthony Gigliotti, the old longtime principal clarinet in the Philly Orchestra, played this way, as do many successful woodwind colleagues I know personally. Am I missing something? Is this a gender-specific faux pas?

      Not surprising to hear Needleman’s teaching was harsh and emotionally destructive. This would make her ordinary as American conservatory oboe teachers go; cruelty is as much a part of the American oboe tradition as the long-scraped reed. But it’s weird that someone who has been an identified promoter of a toxic environment as a teacher would be in the news calling out someone else for related behavior in the orchestra. (Somehow I can’t imagine Marcel Tabuteau filing a lawsuit because someone was mean to him at work.) Combined with the sending of an internet mob after a reviewer for doing his job, this really does paint quite the picture!

  • Alex Klein says:

    Reading the comments above I cannot help but conclude that not only Katherine Needleman has a right to demand respect in her employment, but many other women should stand up and do the same. I see a similar pattern in the confirmation debacle of Judge Kavanaugh and the 30-year-old sexual complaint levied against him.

    I hope we can all agree that the rules of interpersonal discourse in the work place were written by the old boys club, and to their convenience. These rules made us, men, rules of the universe, and allowed us to protect us from any criticism coming from those who are not white men, typically involving some kind of humiliation. C’mon, you all know it. And those rules were also homophobic. I am certain none of us hetero men would appreciate being hit on, looked upon, talked about, bumped into by someone wanting to touch us, everyday as if we are a piece of meat, and having our complaints about it overlooked.

    Needleman is an intense person and performer, defender of very high standards. So is her teacher, Richard Woodhams, and his teacher John de Lancie. Now watch how we compare the two accomplished white men and give them some slack for being tough and leaving students in tears (I count myself among them). But the woman? Oh no, she needs to be docile, the macho’s version of what “feminine” means, she needs to know her place, and that place is not raising hell about work conditions.

    Her case will proceed and I wish her, the concertmaster and the BSO much wisdom in sorting this all out. But let me be frank, we need new rules. The work place is still dominated by men’s rules, and the responses above are a perfect example of the kind of degrading treatment women will endure for speaking out. Perhaps hoping to make Needleman an example so others won’t rise up like her? See how the same scene of “its her fault” is perceived in the Kavanaugh hearings (“she should have known better”) all the way to rape trials when they bring an accuser’s entire sex history, clothing style, social habits to play as if “she was asking for it”. And now look above at what is being done here, bringing up all sorts of dirt from totally unrelated issues…to prove what? That she deserved it? That she has no right to complain? I think we can all do better than that.

    Women don’t see the work place the way we men do. Or pretty much anything for that matter. Certainly not sexuality. It is not only the BSO that needs new rules, we all do.

    • Wai kit leung says:

      Very well said Mr. Klein. No one, of any gender or race, including Katherine Needleman, should be harrassed or put up with harassment. People should be able to speak up about harassment without getting ridiculed or have their sex histories revealed to everyone. I think we are all agreeing with that.

      But many people here (myself included) have raised the concern that Ms. Needleman seems to have had a history of harassing others, and in my case, making up stories while doing so. It is legit to question if this is once again one of those instances, given that repeated investigations have found nothing like she is describing to the media now.

      By the way, you were (still are I believe) part of the IDRS Facebook group, and surely would have seen her organising the hate mob to insult and attack me. You were not part of the mob, but how come you didn’t speak up? In fact, after that fact you condemned me on her Facebook page. Did your righteousness desert you momentarily?

      • Anon says:

        Oh, for heaven’s sake, Mr. Leung, let it go. Be gracious for once.

        We should be honored that Alex Klein has weighed in on this situation, and done so with such wisdom and insight. Reading his words, it was like hearing the speakers at John McCain’s funeral, who finally sounded like world leaders after months of Trump. Alex Klein sounds like the Principal Oboe of a major US orchestra. That’s the wisdom, the foresight, the maturity we should all hope for from someone who holds, or who has held such a position.

        This isn’t about you, Mr. Leung. You’ve made your point. Step back and when someone like Alex Klein expresses his opinion, be gracious enough to not try to make it about yourself. Again. And again and again.

        Thank you, Alex, for your true and insightful words. Much appreciated, truly.

        • Another Musician says:

          ANON, I understand Mr. Leung to be saying there is a pattern of behavior on Ms. Needleman’s part that makes him, and others, question her integrity; something which can only be informed by past experience, which naturally he referenced here. I would say to you as well, we need to acknowledge that injuries of the emotional and mental bodies do not heal as rapidly as injuries to the physical body. There is no amount of time by which someone “should” be healed from a trauma such as the kind cyberbullying creates. Please show some sensitivity in areas where you have no personal experience as a standard of measure.

        • Wai kit leung says:

          ANON, this post is not about me, but I do have an idea what US major orchestra principal oboes sound like. I had first-hand experience with a few of them.

          They will spray you with expletives if your review of their friend’s playing is less than stellar. They will publically humiliate you, laugh at your English if it isn’t perfect, and trash you because you are a nobody compared to them. Gang up on you, a few at a time or tag-team style, to test your stamina. They also have the incredible ability to evaluate a review without listening to the actual CD!

          I didn’t watch John McCain’s funeral. Did it sound like that?

        • The View from America says:

          You sound like Alex Klein’s publicity agent.

      • Alex Klein says:

        I think, Wai Kit, that the two issues are unrelated. Perhaps, if you feel hurt by her previous actions you may enjoy an opportunity for revenge now that she is under attack for raising a complaint. I hope not, as revenge dives into a ping-pong game without end. The issue now is different. Needleman’s complaint is not isolated. There are many others, there is a #metoo movement and several formerly-powerful men being made into bed examples of humanity due to our inability to quickly impose new rules in regards to sexual harassment and its secondary consequences. Perhaps some of these new rules can address how we relate to complaints related to problems which happened long ago – perhaps a statute of limitations?

        Regardless, what used to be acceptable isn’t anymore. Even what would pass for “normal” in 2005 or in the 1980’s is now coming up – yes, many years later – to haunt the way men treated women at the workplace back then, and now. This behavior needs to stop. Independently of what transpires in Needleman’s complaint, and independently of what you may think of her, we men should keep up with the times and provoke change, and stop this nonsense of sexual harassment once and for all, from Catholic male priests abusing children to retaliations for being denied sex from a co-worker (I withhold judgment on Needleman’s complaint or its veracity for lack of sufficient information).

      • Wai kit leung says:

        FYI Mr. Klein and I know each other. I had always admired his courage and I travelled across the North American continent to take a summer course with him back in 2013.

      • Hannah says:

        Please stop repeating the lie that the investigations found nothing. What they found was that Mr. Carney engaged in inappropriate behavior, but that it did not rise to a level to be considered illegal.

    • Michael Endres says:

      I agree with your assessment but would like to point towards one part of the equation that doesn’t make it into the headlines these days:
      as public accusations have the potential to ruin somebody’s life due to the power of social media we need to make sure that baseless und unproven attacks have serious repercussions for the accuser.
      I sincerely hope the new justice isn’t one where lives don’t matter as long as the agenda is right.
      https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/swedish-opera-singer-attacks-metoo-mob-mentality-1.3579828

    • Orchestral Musician says:

      A high profile music teacher who is “leaving students in tears” may seem vicious to the general public, but it is not unusual, or unique to Ms. Needleman.

      Several students of mine have confided in me about their former (female) teacher, who occasionally reduced them to tears if they did not perform as well as she had expected. They didn’t complain to anyone in authority, or try to discredit her in any way. “Better to hear it from her than a conductor”.

      • Bruce says:

        Yes, it’s pretty common. I have occasionally been met with incredulity when I say that over the course of ~25 years of teaching, I never made a student cry. (Opening the door and saying “Hi, how are you?” and having the student burst into tears because she’s 15 and hates her parents doesn’t count, does it?)

    • Anon06 says:

      It’s clear your words were meant to elevate the conversation to something more honorable, and prevent possible “victim-shaming” or other premature discrediting of Needleman’s claims, but I think her reportedly cruel teaching methods should have some bearing on how we react to the article. That combined with the bad review fiasco is more than enough cause for a raised eyebrow. Obviously the legal system’s ruling on the matter is a different story, and none of our business. But her choice to do an interview with the Washington post puts the issue into the court of public opinion. It’s not like we all heard about it by being nosy. No one is suggesting sending an internet mob after her, or something crazy like that.

      I also would say that part of your post could be interpreted as a defense of cruel teaching methods by American oboe teachers, past and present, under the guise of oboists having intense personalities and being passionate “defenders of standards.” I’m sure this isn’t what you meant. I’m sure that despite your own personal success under these conditions, you do not see it as a tradition that should be continued and promoted. I know you were making a comparison between the reaction to Needleman’s teaching and that of her straight white male counterparts. I disagree that it’s mainly about gender/race/sexuality. Some of the most emotionally abusive teachers in the system are women, non-white, and/or non-hetero. I don’t see them getting away with any less than their straight white male counterparts. It’s age that seems to grant abusive teachers some freedom from accountability. Of course the older the teacher, the more likely they are to be a white male, so there’s that….

      • Wai kit leung says:

        I think it was a thinly-veiled attempt by Mr. Klein to save his colleague from further embarrassment. As I said, he was a bystander during the oboe mob saga, and I don’t recall him speaking up at all even though the situation was 100 orders of magnitude worse than it is now. Either Mr. Klein has a very narrow definition for harassment, or he thinks only the major symphony players, and not a nobody like myself, should be protected. I have very little respect for people who have double standard.

      • Alex Klein says:

        But this discussion isn’t about the teaching, is it? We all have very little information to go on in relation to what happens at Peabody. Speculation is jot finding new truth here, only fueling an online lynching of her character for her daring to speak up. In my eyes this strengthens her hand, as you are all giving ample proof that there is such a thing as a toxic environment against a woman who dares to stand up. And, for the record, I transferred away from Curtis upon experimenting that verbal abuse i did not approve and do not condone that style of teaching for any one, by any one.

        But lets presume for a moment, Wai Kit, that you are correct on every count. Lets presume you are correct that she is this and that, mean, nasty, that she went after your job, worst teacher in the world and arguably the most despicable oboist to walk the earth (knowing she’d be in good conpany). Lets presume she is all that, for the sake of your argument.

        So….now what?

        Does this mean she deserves a bad work environmant? Are you trying to say her karma brought it upon her? Do you mean to say that if someone ever does something bad she is then denied the right to raise a future complaint?

        Wai Kit, forgive my ignorance, I do not know where you are from or where you live, but here in the US that is not how the law works, nor society. Katherine Needleman is fully entitled to complain as she wishes, about whatever it is she is unsatisfied with. I don’t know if she is right, I do not blame Mr. Carrey for anything, nor the BSO. It is not up to me, or up to you to judge this case.

        I stand by the argunent that work environments are based on a chauvinistic traditions, and that change comes through friction such as the one brought up by Mrs Needleman and others of the #metoo movement. We can either embrace change and do the right thing in favor of equal rights, or keep squabbling about it ad infinitum.

        Let her complain. Allow women to defend their space and show us how is it that an orchestra should work. We all need that information.

        • Wai kit leung says:

          Mr. Klein,

          Of course she is allowed to complain. No one is stopping her now. This is her fourth attempt, on the same matter. We are just commenting if her complaints have ground, given that she failed three times already.

          I just read the latest Baltimore Sun article. She complained that the concertmaster bumped into her in the stairways, and that he smirked and made faces. People have been interviewed and no one could corrobate that. Is she going to get a different result this time? How is this working out for the orchestra? The donors are surely taking a second look at what kind of organization they are giving their money to. Is this good for her fellow orchestra colleagues? I would argue it is not even good for women out there who are really fighting for equal rights.

          My reply to you was directed at you, Mr. Klein, not at Ms. Needleman. You advocate anti-harassment here, yet after Needleman got me fired, you lent your support to her and wrote something to the tune of “someone (me) who hadn’t achieved half as much as she had shouldn’t be criticizing her”. Were you for harassment or anti-harassment?

          • Alex klein says:

            Exactly, Wai Kit! Thank you for clarifying my point.

            The law and society allow for ever higher levels of complaints in case people are unsatisfied with the previous results. From what we see here she did the right thing, first denying him sex in what was a “10 minute conversation”, then upon perceiving a change in the professional reationship she raised the complaint to management, and so on and so forth. She can continue to do this all the way to the US Supreme Court if she wants to. Its her right. Leave her alone.

            And regarding bumping on the stairwell, funny looks and other apparently small gestures, you and I and every male here need to make a leap of faith and see the situation from a woman’s point of view. For us, men, a bump in the stairwell means nothing. It is common for men to be so rumbunctious with each other as we relate to other men. What Mrs Needleman and thousands of other women are proposing is that we adjust what is “normal” so it includes how women relate to the work environment, particularly where sexual attraction is involved. From such a point of view, from a smaller stature, from someone who is more sensitive and how surely has received many other unwelcome sex proposals and flirts in her lifetime, the mere bump takes on an entirely different meaning. Again, I don’t blame Mr Carney, and seem to think that the BSO’s solution of sensitivity training is smart. But that is for Mrs Needleman to accept, or apparently not.

            I would never do this to you, Wai Kit, but since you asked, and now for the second time, I explain my view to you. Please consider this “professional advice” to you as a critic, and not a message from your former teacher. Katherine Needleman is one of the greatest examples of the American/Tabuteau school. She graduated from Curtis where she endured very tough teaching from Richard Woodhams who is arguably the greatest American player ever. She is an accomplished Principal Oboe with a major orchestra led by one of the current greatest American conductors. Needleman is no picnic, but a professional of the highest standing. I can understand if she is criticized by a non-oboist critic – as I am sure she has – and who might have a different opinion. But you, Wai Kit, you are an oboist. You understand how difficult this instrument is, and can visualize what Mrs Needleman must have gone through to earn her deservedly high spot in the business. As such, to lend the kind of criticism on her that you chose to do, raises serious questions about your credibility, both as oboist and as a critic. Can you do it? Of course, this is a free country. You can lay out your opinion, and by the same token she can choose to fight back, as she did. Needleman is like a Barack Obama of oboe playing. Criticism can and perhaps should always accompany such a person, as peer review remains big in oboedom. But if I remember correctly your comments also referred to the American oboe school, a point of view which I subscribe to, and consider it unethical for you – as an oboist – to openly criticize in this manner just because you don’t like it. You see, we oboists have created a respectful market that crosses borders, where we used to be so antagonistic. We respect different point of view, different concepts of sound, interpretation, vibrato, pitch, oboe manufacturers, even if we personally would never consider playing like somebody else. Within this realm, Katherine Needleman is a master. The very least that is expected from an oboist critic is to make it very clear where she stands. So I vehemently disagree with you on your assessment of her playing, and invite you to be more considerate of our many differences in oboedom, and how we all work hard to protect an environment of diversity and common goals.

          • Wai kit leung says:

            Mr. Klein,

            This comment section is not about me, so I will keep this as short as I can.

            My review criticizes Ms. Needleman’s playing, not the American school in general. She was the one who misled the crowd that I was against the American school, out of vengeance. She didn’t say I attacked “an entire nation, and possibly an entire continent, of oboists” initially, but did so after I asked her to stop harassing me (I was told by MusicWeb not to engage with the artists). If you look at all my reviews, you can see I had much kinder words for two other American oboists I reviewed, and I had even harsher words for an European player. My family never supported me with my music studies. If I hated the American school so much and was so biased, do you think I would spend so much money to travel the width of the continent to study with Elaine Douvas (twice), Linda Strommen, you plus a couple of other American teachers?

            I didn’t know Ms. Needleman before her disc arrived and didn’t know of her failed audition at Baltimore. I was genuinely shocked by the level of playing on the CD. I tried very hard to find nice things to say, thus I mentioned beautiful pp playing 4 freaking times. But you have met me in person, you know what kind of a person I was. I don’t lie, and I just had to put my assessment in the review. Plus it was Len at MusicWeb who instructed me that I must say it if the disc is bad. I never wanted the review be read, given its nature. I passed it on to 10 people at MusicWeb, including the founder and the chief editor, to make sure the tone was ok. They all gave me the thumbs-up. So where did the blame lie? I wasn’t the one who showed everyone the review. It was Ms. Needleman who showed the world my review alongside her inciting comments.

            This is not about me, it is about Ms. Needleman. You still haven’t answered my question. Why did you lend your support to this cyber bully (Katherine Needleman) after she used illegal tactics to get me fired? Are you pro-harassment or anti-harassment? I have lost almost all respect for you since that day, Alex Klein. Please be a man and answer my question, once and for all, and not dance around. This is not about oboe playing, it is about human principle, something you seemed to care a lot about. On that I believe we are equals and I need to question your integrity.

          • Hannah says:

            Again, I read your critique, without any prompting from Katherine, and found you to be insulting to the American style of playing. Maybe that wasn’t your intent, but what you wrote was easily interpreted that way.

        • CGDA says:

          Alex Klien:

          When someone has issues at work, he or she do not flaunt it on the media.

          • Wai kit leung says:

            CDGA:

            In case you didn’t know, Ms. Needleman, in “fighting back” (as Alex Klein put it) my review, decided to broadcast my work information to over 10,000 members of various double reed groups on Facebook (and countless others who might have seen the posts since the IDRS FB group was/is public), and use misleading and inciting language to have people believe that I was attacking “an entire country, and possibly an entire continent, of oboists”. Her behaviour in her latest saga is consistent with what I experienced first hand. She does not like to talk over things. She likes to destroy people.

  • Wai kit leung says:

    Just talking in general terms: is a workplace harassment after a rejection of an amorous offer any worse than a workplace harassment arising from a different cause? Does that necessarily make it a sexual harassment?

    • Weezy says:

      It should not.
      I met Jonathan a year ago for the first time and met him again in March. He told me a story describing one case of this so-called “harassment” back before any of this came out in public. From what he told me, the oboe severely misinterpreted something in regards to the tuning A and overreacted.
      Maybe some of you will think maybe he was lying, and maybe he was, but I don’t really believe he would go out of his way to tell this story to someone he barely knows, and lie about it.
      Before people want to crucify Jonathan, perhaps you should consider if it’s possible that Needleman is overly-sensitive, something that could be true according to Wai Kit Leung’s experience.

      • Wai kit leung says:

        I am not sure if she is super-sensitive, but for sure she is extremely vindictive and calculated.

        Perhaps I should say it here that after she found my review online, she added me as a Facebook friend, but didn’t talk to me. She just kept tagging her on her hateful posts, and when I asked her to stop harassing me, she started her massive attack.

        Didn’t seem impulsive to me, but I could be wrong of course.

        Disclaimer: this is not about me. This is about Katherine Needleman

  • Laughing out loud says:

    Baltimore Sun: “Can you explain what kind of sexual harrassment you are dealing with?”

    Katherine Needleman: “he made faces at people in the orchestra – it must be because he didn’t have sex with me in 2005”

    Baltimore Sun: …

    Seriously? Stop, before you shoot yourself in the other foot, Katherine. She’s still just angry that one time someone had the audacity to find her attractive 13 YEARS AGO and she’s way over that hill now, darling.

  • Wai kit leung says:

    Amusement for the weekend:

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/artsmash/bs-fe-bso-scandal-20180920-story.html

    Even if true (which it isn’t), the “retaliation” amounted to “smirking and making faces at people”.

    And this charge is coming from a principal oboist who hurled racial slurs at me and accused me of having mental problems.

    No wonder the BSO called the charge frivolous.

  • Weezy says:

    The battered broad? Give me a break!

    • Another Musician says:

      Yes, this is a long-standing Classical music joke. Is it better to be a bartered bride or a battered broad? A life of sex trafficking, prostitution and slavery vs a life of domestic abuse and virtual imprisonment. Except, wait, “The Bartered Bride” is a comic opera! Perhaps it is in keeping with the original creative spark, then, that we make fun of various aspects of real life in the real world.

      • Orchestral Musician says:

        “The Battered Broad” is what my High School orchestra director called it. Should I sue her, or worse, “call her out” on social media and shame her for life?

        • yet another musician says:

          +1. I’ve performed/prepared this excerpt for auditions many times and have probably heard it called “Battered Broad” more times than the actual name.

  • CGDA says:

    How many people has she had problems with? Has she ever been assessed by a psychiatrist?

    There is also a worrying aspect in this: Why is she allowed to speak publicly about legal or potentially legal cases? Is that normal in the USA?

    Is she serious or does she just want to harm people? Only a judge will be able to find . She is however doing a battle by media and, on the way, harming the people she targets: that is not the way of seeking justice! In fact, it gives a very bad impression of her and the Me2 movement and how credible all the cases are. You want to deal with legal matter? – you do them privately and professionally!

    If her accusations turn out to be fake, I hope people sue her.

    • Wai kit leung says:

      If it wasn’t the geographic distance, different jurisdictions and the high legal costs involved, I definitely would have sued her. In Hong Kong, people have been jailed for doing less severe stuff than she did (cyber crimes). I don’t believe Mr. Carney and I are the only ones who she has targeted. Let’s hope others will find the courage to come forward and to expose her true character.

  • Sick of it says:

    Her anti-male rants continue into 2023. I’m guessing that she and her husband are big in to pegging.

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