Baltimore’s embattled flute clarifies her unusual opinions
mainThe Baltimore Symphony’s principal flute Emily Skala has written to Slippedisc.com, describing herself an independent thinker and claiming that (s) she has been misunderstood and (b) the furore against her was raised by the girlfriend of the ex-husband of Baltimore’s 2nd flute.
… I am not eccentric. Just because I think independently of the media, doesn’t mean I am strange. And my comments about my experience in Pittsburgh were about my own experiences of being discriminated against for being a woman in a man’s profession. It didn’t help that we were of starkly different religious and ethnic backgrounds, too. I don’t know Melissa Whimbish personally. Whatever slights she has experienced, she is projecting them onto me and the BSO, as best as I can make out. And what any of that has to do with my FB posts on the geopolitical events of the past year is beyond me, except that her boyfriend, Dolf Kämper, ex-husband of our 2nd flutist, misunderstood some information I shared from a documentary film I had seen. From there I speculated on some code language Hitler may have used in WWII…
Read on here.
The reason she was denied tenure in Pittsburgh was due to her playing, not because she’s a woman. She simply wasn’t ready, and it was obvious to the players and conductors (Maazel and guests). Her sound was a big problem. Of course, she would rather say she was let go because of non-musical reasons, but her opinion should not be viewed as fact. Her claim makes her feel better, but it’s inaccurate.
Yeah, and here it seems she’s got a whole new set of villains to blame her hardship on… “The ex-husband of the second wife’s girlfriend’s old roommate…”
What?
There are certain people you go to for their opinions on matters of great concern to society.
One of those people is Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976). His insight is invaluable.
Now principal flutes… man, we should all just stay AWAY from principal flutes.
I see what you did there! You pulled an Oprah!
Who cares? Her playing is not the issue here. She has a job in Baltimore which she’s done well for decades. She’s the victim of a social media mobbing campaign right now for misinterpreted leaked emails. This needs to stop.
Sound is a matter of choice & instrument. I get your point her sound wasn’t right for Pittsburgh. That’s no reflection on her playing. She’s one of a handful of flutists in the world who plays a platinum flute. It’s powerful, it doesn’t always blend & it’s very solistic. It takes a great flutist to play platinum. She rocks it. Not sure what position she was up for in Pittsburgh, but platinum would be totally wrong for a section job.
As far as Justification by Alleged Semitism, isn’t the person who plays to her left in BSO Jewish? We’ve heard no complaints about that.
Your comment is petty. This isn’t about playing. I don’t even know Emily Skala and I can tell you that.
It’s not about playing. It’s about being racist.
Even in her statement here, she brings up race again:
“It didn’t help that we were of starkly different religious and ethnic backgrounds, too.”
She’s white.
So are Jewish people. That’s not racism.
Every generalisation of this nature is racist.
Point taken, thank you, Norman. But people of a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and religions endure generalisations and often discrimination.
My Catholic ancestors in Eastern Europe were persecuted and murdered in the Holocaust because of THEIR religion and ethnicity. And yet there is no word for that. It’s not anti-semitism because they were not Jewish. It’s not racism because they were white.
When John F. Kennedy ran for President in the US there was tremendous disdain and distrust for him because he was Catholic. You’ve seen for yourself in comments on this very blog the accusations made against Joe Biden because he is Irish Catholic.
Catholics are just one of many religious and/or ethnic groups in the world who have historically endured generalisations. Granted, Catholicism is a lightweight example in comparison to the no. of Jews who perished in the Holocaust, or the systematic discrimination against Blacks in the US, but I find it slanted that so many historical generalisations about race/religion, including those about my own ancestors, are never thought of as “racism”.
“Racism” only seem to apply to a certain few ethnic and religious groups, which is why I question the use of the word in the accusations made against Emily Skala.
Thanks for hearing me out, and I truly enjoy your blog and the diverse comments you welcome here. Bravo!
Anon, very good points, all. I’m told, though I haven’t read it myself, that the final sentence of the Papal Bull of 1302 officially enslaved all citizens of the world, meaning we are all equally inferior in the eyes of the Vatican. I further learned, the Pope of the late 15th century, who sent the explorers like Cristobal Colombus hither and thither, decreed these men should treat all indigenous peoples who refused to convert to their religion as inferior and hostile people. As such, they had permission to kill them. It was at this juncture in human history that racism was born. And it is since this time that it has been played out against all people of color and why it is the cause celeb of all religious wars as well.
Is it a crime to be white? Maybe for the self-hating social media bandwaggoners, yes, but not for anyone else.
The problem was not that she was too “solistic”, to use your word. She actually lacked presence. Her pitch didn’t line up with other players, conductors were at a loss to know what to do with her, and she was aware of the general unhappiness regarding her playing. She was still on her search for an instrument that people would like.
My comment is not petty. I’m irritated by her false statements of discrimination in Pittsburgh. When you say she “rocks” and you defend her at every turn, it makes it seem like you are Emily, a member of her family, or one of her students.
Bad guess & totally wrong. I’m another pro musician and I’ve never even met Emily. I’ve heard her play, I know of her instrument set up and I’ve been impressed.
Look, there are literally thousands and thousands of pro flutists in the US. It’s not exactly an underpopulated or isolated profession. There is a professional organization which unites flutists, and most flutists stick together.
I am defending her not for her beliefs, which I abhor, but as because as a colleague, albeit one I’ve never met, I hate to see her the victim of this social media mobbing. It’s empathy for a professional colleague.
Maybe I don’t know all the details. Maybe she’s truly a vile person. I have no idea. But what I’ve seen on social media has not proven to me that she deserves to be taken down this violently.
Thanks for sharing your valuable personal insight on this situation from Pittsburgh Symphony.
Her OWN words: “And my comments about my experience in Pittsburgh… It didn’t help that we were of starkly different religious and ethnic backgrounds, too.”
Now she’s mentioning “ethnic backgrounds”, not just “religious backgrounds” as from the earlier post.
This is anti-Semitism/racism, and reveals deeply ingrained beliefs for her, if she is STILL, after all this time and after a long career in BSO, convinced that this “difference” is what kept her from being granted tenure in the Pittsburgh Symphony, back in the 1980s.
Her own words, in the year 2021, continue to reveal an ongoing and disturbing obsession with the religion and ethnic background of fellow musicians.
BSO donors should be concerned.
Oh my goodness, you all keep missing the point. And I detect a theme here: none of you personally knows me, which means none of you can say for certain if I believe anything deeply at all, nor if I am actually obsessed about anything in this world in a literal sense of the word. So please, refrain from such extreme statements.
It was never that I was not given tenure while a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Maazel was only thinking about it. To reassure him, I played for him again, privately. He was confident about my technique, less sure about my musicianship, he’s said. He didn’t complain about my tone. He didn’t complain about my pitch. Not when he spoke to me, at any rate. It was all rather vague. I’m not sure where your ideas are coming from. He thought I wasn’t ready to be a principal player. I thought this was odd, since he had a principal player already. I was Co-Principal at the time. Not a section player. All Co-Principals functioned as Assistants back then. I believe I was explaining in the emails that I realized Bernie was working behind the scenes to convince others not to approve my tenure. Not wishing to stay in a group where I was not wanted (by the principal flutist), I worked to find another position asap. Luckily, I achieved this before this tenure decision came to the fore.
Naively, I thought it would have been rude to talk about Bernie’s sexual identity which lead to his somewhat nepotistic preferences. But in the end it may have been preferable to having mentioned his religious and ethnic identities. These days it’s eggshells no matter in which direction one walks.
I’m genuinely sorry everyone. I consider myself a person of deep integrity and authenticity. Never in a million years did I think telling my personal story of hardship would lead to so much hatred and criticism when all I have done is strive for excellence. But people will hate you for that, too. Because goodness knows, perfectionism is a sign of compulsion.
A good friend pointed out that all one has to do is to look at my life’s work to know I am not antisemitic: My CD, “Voices Through Time,” is a recording of Hanoch Tel-Oren’s arrangement of Brahms’ Clarinet Sonatas, Op. 120. Hanoch was a former Principal Flutist of the Jerusalem Philharmonic. In fact, Hanoch traveled to my home for the fund raising event, hosted by my good friends, and leading benefactors, Marc and Riva Kahn. My pianist for this recording is Norman Krieger, my producer was Adam Abeshouse. This same friend also pointed out the primary benefactress at Peabody Institute is Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg, and that if I were really as purported, I would not have been able to have sustained a 30-yr career as flute faculty at this conservatory. This is similarly true at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Any logical person can see by my longevity at these institutions that these accusations are baseless, and simply meant to prey off of peoples’ emotions and vulnerabilities. For myself I’m wondering who leaked these emails and why do they wish to destroy my career on fabricated ideation. They point the finger and you all follow the finger. Let’s look back along the extended arm to those who do the pointing.
Were you granted tenure in the Pittsburgh Symphony or not?
It was a question which never had to be answered. I got a principal job in Baltimore. I left Pittsburgh before my 2nd probation year was concluded.
Considering the violent threats and defamation of character Melissa Wimbish is making on her social media and in the press, the Baltimore Police should be concerned.
I didn’t play a platinum flute in Pittsburgh.
OK, thanks for that. My mistake. Seriously, do you have a cat named Mr. Marsalis as they’re saying here? I picked it as a random pen name here and now when I comment they are convinced that I am you. I am flabbergasted.
Rest assured I have not had a cat by that name.
Well, if she had those issues with her playing as you described, how could she be tied for the principal flute at Boston Symphony, got in the final rounds for the principal flute at San Francisco Symphony and London Philharmonic, and was the only American flutist who got into the final round for the principal flute at Berlin Philharmonic? Are you saying those major orchestras had worse judgment than you?
No, I am not saying those orchestras had worse judgment than I. This isn’t about me. I am saying that if Emily is going to claim she did poorly in Pittsburgh because she’s a woman and/or not Jewish, she’s going to get pushback from people who were there. She should just tell the truth and say it didn’t work out. But she’s still playing the victim, decades later. I thought right-wingers hated that.
Well actually about that… They’ve haven’t spoken to each other in years.
Next interview for Oprah?
Jerry Springer would be a better fit.
This statement from this person is a non-statement. It means absolutely nothing.
Clear as mud.
Wait – so the boyfriend of Melissa Wimbish, the woman personally responsible for the smear campaign of Baltimore Symphony flutist Emily Skala is the EX-HUSBAND of BSO’s 2nd flutist? That certainly explains a lot.
The guy’s name is DOLF KAMPER & I just checked his FB. He, like Melissa Wimbish is rabid about defaming Emily Skala and the Baltimore Symphony. He is also Wimbish’s source for her info on BSO funding, which she has been ranting on about.
Someone needs to put a lid on those 2. I am not fan of conspiracy theorists and I do not support Emily Skala’s opinions in the least but it bugs that **** out of me that these 2 are running a smear campaign on a professional colleague which is clearly personal in nature.
I would like to hear from BSO’s 2nd flutist on this. I was wondering why Emily hasn’t been defending herself. Looks to me like she’s shown a lot of restraint about not dragging her colleague into the limelight over her vindictive ex-husband.
Emily, you’re a smart lady and a great player. Eccentric is a benign word for your beliefs, in my opinion, but to each his own. You’re not racist. You’re not anti-semitic. But I’d avoid posting controversial political/vaccine opinions on social media. Just don’t. It infuriates people. Melissa Wimbish and her vengeful bfriend are just going to use that for ammunition.
Get a good lawyer and sue Wimbish and Kampar NOW. Take legal action. This is BS. Get a gag order for those 2 rabid lunatics.
Even better -just ignore them. And please keep quiet. You aren’t helping yourself.
So this Dolf Kamper is the ex-husband of Emily? She seems too old for him anyway.
How would he have secret BSO funding info?
I found his Facebook page. “Rabid Lunatic?” I don’t see it.
I did find Emily’s comments on one of his posts about Hitler and how Jews “wear their spirituality as a cloak, like members of a club.”
This Emily Skala seems unhealthy.
No, it wasn’t Kampar that said that. Emily commented that Hitler was most likely a Rothschild and a therefore a descendant of the worshippers of Ba’al. He later took the “Nazi” from Ashkenazi as an ideogram for his movement.
The ex-husband of the 2nd flutist, not of Emily Skala. Presumably = Dolf Kämper (or Kamper). http://analogarts.org/kamperr/; there is a flutist in the BSO called Marcia Kamper – the ex-wife? Dolf is a trumpeter, and now runs his family (originally from Germany) cuckoo-clock business in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Sounds like the basis for a soap-opera.
I can’t keep it all straight. Maybe SlippedDisc should release Emily’s entire statement?
Then why would that guy have it out for Emily? I don’t get it.
Why indeed. Soap-opera plots can be very convoluted.
I dunno, sounds like another conspiracy theory. The simpler answer is usually the better one:
s) Emily was embarrassed by what she said.
2) Emily looks for someone else to blame, and claim it’s some big plot against her.
Maybe something to do with his ex-wife sitting next to ES? Maybe there is a connection there but one can only speculate. Someone should spill the beans, if there are any to spill.
Dolf kämper should be mit damfer on this.
1.”She seems too old for him”. That’s pretty judgy. It’s ageism. Just as bad as what you’re accusing her of.
2. He removed some posts from his page since this thread came out.
3. She said Hitler was probably Jewish. That is not racist or anti semitic, it’s most likely true. Buddhists also wear their spirituality like a cloak, like members of a club. It’s an observation, not a criticism and it applies to plenty of religions. Evangelical Christians also come to mind.
4. I have been following Melissa Wimbish on social media and she is like a dog with a bone with this Skala issue. A rabid dog.
5. He researched BSO’s funding. It’s not secret. Looks like he removed his post on that.
6. You are totally not understanding who Melissa Wimbish is, who her boyfriend is and their connection to Skala. Let someone else explain it. Your understanding of this situation is unhealthy. You need to know what it is before you spout off.
More theories. Emily, you just can’t help yourself.
I haven’t deleted any posts. Have a look.
Dolf, trust me, I am not Emily. Neither is anyone else defending her. I have never even met her.
You’re going up against a lot of folks besides ES here. Our eyes on on you. This has the earmarks of a generational conflict, rather than a racial one. You and your girlfriend and her social media mob are mostly whiney self-entitled millennials. I’ve done my research, too. I’ve read her FB & Twitter & doxed her just as you did to Emily.
You annoy and alienate people who are not also millennials. Not just Emily Skala, but a lot more of us. You have a certain social agenda and are trying to fit ES into it. Just read the definition of millennials and how they interact with boomers and gen xers and this is pretty much it.
Dork, or Dolf or whatever your name is, go back to your cuckoo clock business and get off the Emily Skala mob campaign.
How typically self centered and millennial it is for you to think that anyone who doesn’t agree you must be the same person you are attacking. Had a few too many Tide Pods there, eh, Zoomer?
Emily, I’m sorry you’re so angry. I’ve never called you names. I don’t feel like I’ve attacked you, and am sorry you feel that way.
I remember you named your cat Mr. Marsalis. (Guess what color he was.)
OMFG. Dolf, I am not Emily. Trust me on that. That’s like when there was a commenter named Rodrigo & you guys thought HE was Emily because the last piece she played with BSO was by Rodrigo. I know Rodrigo and he is not Emily. Neither am I. I picked the name Marsalis at random. No connection whatsoever with Emily’s cat. I do not know her or her pets. You guys are inventing your own conspiracy theories. If someone defends Emily it doesn’t mean they ARE Emily. Jeez. How basic is that?
You just passive-aggressively called her a racist.
Guest, yes, I also noticed that. Looks to me like Dolf Kampar is projecting his own racism onto ES. Maybe his anti-semitism, too.
Dolf, let me spell it out for you. If you look on the previous post on Slipped Disc about this subject – https://slippedisc.com/2021/02/major-us-orchestra-in-turmoil-over-principal-flutes-covid-views/
Scroll to the end & you will see that Emily herself responds to me. I am Mr. Marsalis, she is Emily Skala. I called her an “eccentric middle aged flutist”, because although I defend her, I think her ideas are odd. She did not like that and responded. She made it VERY clear that she does not consider herself eccentric. She was not arguing with herself or with her cat. She was arguing with me, a very different person who has never even met her.
So maybe now you’ll believe that not everyone who defends Emily actually IS Emily.
Are you also going to tell us that Emily has cats named “Musician”, “Enquiring Mind”, “Mick the Knife”, “Musifa”, “JM”, and “Mock Mahler”, all pen names of people who have commented in favor of Emily? Are they also all Emily?
Or what about that nice man, Mr. Randolph, who, under his own name, made comments defending Emily on the Baltimore Symph page? Because Melissa’s social media mob could see who he was, they attacked him viciously and threatened to contact his employer. The poor man was clearly terrified and deleted his comments. You can still see comments where your followers address & insult him by name. Was he actually Emily too?
Your group has viciously attacked every single person who doesn’t fall in line with your campaign. On Melissa’s social media I have seen threats of physical violence (one follower to Melissa: “whose racist ass can I beat up for you?”), or Melissa herself hoping that one woman who didn’t agree with her “steps on several tacks”), threats to seek people out where they live (Melissa herself claimed to “have people” where one of her critics lives), threats to contact employers and much more.
Seriously, Dolf, do you think this gives your cause or BLM a good name? You guys are a bunch of thugs! I was a big supporter of BLM until I saw this litany of hatred and violence on Melissa’s social media. That’s one reason we use aliases. Your mob has even repeatedly attacked the author of this blog, Mr. Lebrecht, who has done the Melissa the service of writing about her issue before any traditional news source would touch it. That is way out of line.
So grow up, Dolf, walk away. Put a lid on it and tell your nasty girlfriend Melissa to move on. You guys are revealing yourselves as vicious, vengeful, immature little jerks. Your names will live in infamy and forever come up in google searches for this crap you are doing. The world doesn’t care about your campaign. The musician’s union, according to another poster here, is laughing at you. If you strive for equality, do it in a mature way, not with a social media mobbing.
We know who you are Emily. Come out into the light, as in The ILLUMINATI!!!!
I think you misread something there Emanuel.
Baltimore is NOT the BSO. Try BOSTON!!
It’s a borderline phony group now. Get it? Junk bond status…..
And I think it is definitely not ok to leak the internal BSO emails to general public like this. People who did this should be sued.
Get a gag order? Is that necessary?
This is the most pathetic attempt at subterfuge I’ve seen. BOOMER AF. like, the fake account masquerading nas a stranger routine is so 2007. CRINGE!!
It is outrageous that this flutist can’t simply have her own opinions on her own social media account and not have her employer dragged in to this. The BSO really screwed it big time by coming out against her. PC Cancel Culture only grows when its fed red meat, sorry avocado toast, like they did. When she’s offstage she is a private citizen like any other. She’s NOT a public figure like Trump, whom everyone is free to trash. Defamation of character is a real crime in US law and she should be pursuing that avenue. Pretty obvs.
Bravo.
Dude, she posted some seriously disturbing stuff. Even Hitler was like “whoa slow down!”
Ok, I hear you, but those ideas about Hitler’s parentage are not mine. They are to be found in the history books in the libraries of Europe. It was info I gleaned from a documentary. None of it original thought.
Just seeing the name Hitler is disturbing. Granted, it’s not wise at all to be discussing Hitler on public social media.
But you young folks are having a Pavlov’s dog reaction. She mentions Hitler & you label her “anti-semitic” immediately without reading what she says. She says he is probably part Jewish. That’s not anti-semitic.
You millennials are 2 generations removed from Hitler’s atrocities. You have a gut reaction, which is absolutely the right thing, to simply see his name & recoil. I get that. It gives me hope and comfort that you do that. But it doesn’t mean that everyone who speaks his name is an anti-semite.
I get the feeling that ES is socially naive. I think she’s a good flute player who doesn’t interact a lot socially with many people different than herself. This is a common problem with musicians – we’re isolated and nerdy and often out of touch with reality, because we spend so much time alone with our instruments.
I don’t think she understands that speculating about Hitler, even in just a historical context, publicly is dangerous. I do not see her comments as anti-semitic. I see her as being an isolated, not very up-to-date, socially awkward musician who does not understand how shocking her words might appear to others.
Like most of the other posters here, I care deeply about the personal views of Baltimore Symphony musicians. Failure to maintain total ideological purity at all times is a huge deal!
Your use of the word purity is disconcerting and triggering, you need to check your privilege before posting here Mr. Chunch (most certainly a fake name, no doubt).
Emily Skala sits next to Katherine Needleman. Just sayin’.
Yeah, and if you know anything about the BSO, you’d know they aren’t the best of friends
Pretty typical in a lot of pro orchs. Has Skala made any derogatroy references to Needleman’s religion? Nope. It’s a non issue.
Not that we know of
This person already had a reputation in our industry as being a bit of a “difficult” person.
Elevating her profile because she’s a bit nuts doesn’t do anything for any of us!
“Difficult” is a rather vague term, don’t you think? Even the job is difficult. Should we hate the job for being difficult? Or is it challenging, and are you up for a good challenge? Like the NYT crossword puzzle?
Ummm… good rule of thumb for avoiding controversy: Don’t speculate about Hitler on social media. Just sayin’.
Any kind of subtlety on social media is dangerous.
Aw Dad, you never let us have any fun 😉
Not my speculations, really. The researchers making the documentary found all the material in the libraries of Europe. People will learn of this eventually. It will be difficult to assimilate at any time, it doesn’t matter who it is revealing the information.
Jesus this is cringy AF. you should have stopped with the terrible editorial you wrote. Your dignity called. She says she misses you.
I had to check the FB posts of the alleged couple doing a number on Emily. The posts by MW are really quite nasty. I find it hard to believe that Emily Skala is not an excellent principal flute because I’ve heard her over her career, in Baltimore. So, the posts calling for her firing are mean.
Just commenting on the first post regarding why she was denied tenure. She apparently played well enough to win the principal position. And probably had to play with the wind section (or at least the other 3 principals) as part of that audition. So she passed that part. And probably had to play a concert or two first before she really “passed” the audition. At any point along the way, her “sound” should have raised a red flag. And now, suddenly, they don’t like her “sound.” Me thinks her “sound” that they didn’t like was what came out of her mouth when she was talking. They need to get over themselves and put on their big girl and boy pants and play music, and not worry about her personal views. Every flute section in EVERY orchestra is a mine field.
She was hired by committee before Maazel arrived. She didn’t play with other principals before she was hired. She wasn’t ready for a big orchestra job. There’s a reason we have an 18-month process to decide if someone should be granted tenure. She failed to mention that two other people were hired at the same time as she was: one got tenure, and the other didn’t. Neither one of those two is Jewish. No one knew back then that she’s loony, or she has become a caricature of herself over time.
Wow, I almost don’t know where to begin. Maazel was Acting Artistic Director since at least one year before I began in Pgh. Did I mention I was thrice in the finals? Maazel thought it would be a great idea for me to get some European training after he’d heard me play principal on Beethoven 8 and Gershwin Concerto in F. These are the ONLY two pieces he EVER heard me play 1st flute on. Since my job was to assist Bernie on 1st and not BE 1st, Maazel’s comment had a ring of … disingenuousness to it. Lastly, I left before a decision about my tenure ever had to be made. We will never know how that story would have ended.
Yes, we do know how it ended. You were told to find another job, and fortunately for you, you did. It’s a pity that you haven’t gained any wisdom over all these years. Instead, you blame people who aren’t alive to defend themselves. Your ego just won’t allow you to take any personal responsibility, huh?
Or possibly you have some curious personal ego injury over a situation that didn’t even involve you?
I attended the musician’s union general membership meeting last month and not a word was mentioned about Skala. They don’t care. It’s all just a big joke to them.
Shut up and pay your dues!
Norman I get irrationally annoyed when you provide headlines like this. A flute is an instrument and the person who plays it is a flute player or a flautist. Therefore how can a flute make its opinions known!?
Wow. Just wow. Can you believe this? This is just unbelievable. She should be ashamed…who can explain this? A disgrace to our institutions.
Some of us don’t find her Covid opinions unusual, and many of us are not racist, we disagree with the woke agenda that views everything under the lens of the oppressor-oppressed critical race theory.
In fact, I’d reckon about 50% of the country agrees with her, but that half doesn’t demand ideological purity. Sadly, nearly 100% of the arts community self-identifies with the half that does.
She sounds completely insane. I’d laugh at her if it wasn’t so sad that she is actually holding up a chair for a job that someone who, at least, isn’t insane could have.
Must think like the rest of the herd. Yeah, yeah, we get it Flute-a-toot.
Hey all!
Just a friendly reminder: Mr Marsalis IS Emily Skala! It’s what she calls her Cat! What a boomer mistake…
Nope. I am here to tell you that I am Mr. Marsalis and I am definitely NOT Emily Skala. Total coincidence that I picked the same pen name as her cat. The Marsalises are a prominent Black musical family and since this is allegedly a racial issue I chose that name. I used Mr. because there are several of them and didn’t want it be too specific.
Look on the previous blog entry about this subject. I am the one who called her an “eccentric middle aged flutist”. She responded & was not happy about that. Do you seriously think she was arguing with herself? Nope. That was me. I do not agree with her political opinions and I told her to stop posting them on social media. I tried to give her advice. Have a look. Stop trying to make connections where there are non.
If you’re so clever about assuming identities, why not do your homework and read what I’ve written. You will see pretty clearly that I am not her. She disagreed with me AGAIN on this thread. I thought she played a platinum flute in Pittsburgh and I was wrong. She corrected me. We are not the same person, believe me.
Calling someone boomer to imply mental incapacity is ageism. If you are really her colleague, you might aspire to being a little more collegial.
didn’t call her a boomer to imply mental incapacity. i called her a boomer to point out that boomers often make these mistakes online that younger generations never do.
you won’t find anything revealing about me online even if you tried, meanwhile this old lady has continued to glaringly show everyone who she is by being all over this discussion with tons of loooooong post, replying to all, as if this is her facebook wall and not an international music news site visited by millions daily, saying she isn’t actually Emily Skala yet suspiciously knowing EVERYTHING about this case and all the players and she keeps on insisting on CAPITALIZING all the names of her ‘enemies’ (now, trolling, boomers got that one right!) and knowing so much about every one of them and even addressing them by their name and continuoing conversations with them she’s clearly had in real life and not on here and on top of it all she named her profile here what she’s named her own cat and that named profile hasn’t existed here ever before this conversation and and and…it’s too obvious.
only boomers make these mistakes and only boomers go on and on and on replying to every post that mentions them in any way with a long post discussing each point with a counterpoint…
ageism? no. just boomer idiocy and i gladly point at it and laugh.
and yes, Emily, I know you and you know me.
Hah! Boomer here (you got that right at least!) & I’m still not Emily Skala! You don’t know me and I don’t know Emily. Why would she keep correcting me about her flute, my calling her eccentric and even asking who I am here?
You have absolutely no idea who I am.
Yeah, I write long posts. So sue me. This situation fascinates me & I’ve read a lot about it. I’m a long time Slipped Disc reader and commenter and from time to time topics catch my interest & I engage on them. I use the pen name Anon a lot. I am a regular here.
I wanted a distinctive name for this thread so I chose Mr. Marsalis. No relation to the cat which Emily says does not exist.
Learn to punctuate and stop hating older colleagues so much. It will make you “a better person”. Isn’t that how every millennial sees themselves, all the while building a castle of intolerance around them?
@Enquiring Mind, whatever we’re building, I’m just glad you don’t get it and will most definitely not be a part of it. So hurry up and be gone already. You will not be missed.
All we’re actually trying to do is make you pay in any and all ways we can for leaving us with a messed up world after your lifetimes of carless destruction.
All you’re trying to do is excuse yourselves and hold on to a world that nobody wanted, except for you privileged few.
Oh no, I wasn’t nice to an openly racist, ignorant colleague and I’m a millennial who should show respect to my elders and learn how to punctuate! How dare I?!
GTFOH
Hey to you, too!
Another friendly reminder: which BSO colleague of Emily’s would know the name of her cat and be able to share that info quickly with Dolf Kamper, who along with his gfriend Melissa Wimbish, is running the smear campaign on Emily.
You got it: Dolf’s ex-wife Marcia, BSO’s 2nd flutist. Hi, there, Marcia, we’re waiting to hear from you. Maybe it’s time for YOU to “come into the light”!
Jerry Springer episode in the making.
Hilarious, I’ve never had a cat named Mr. Marsalis. Who is this??
Emily, you don’t know me. We have friends in common, but we’ve never met. I heard you play once when your orchestra was on tour where I live. You played magnificently. I was also impressed with favorable comments about you from members of the audience and your colleagues.
I believe that you are a fine professional who is being maligned here. You are the victim of a social media mobbing, IMHO.
I do not agree with your opinions, but I stand with you as a professional colleague. I am starting to regret inserting myself into this situation, but please know that you have my respect.
Mr. Marsalis,
I am so grateful for the kind compliment, even so many years post concert. What was the program?? Are you State side? I certainly do appreciate your consistent support during this fiasco, cyber bullying escapade. It is a time of immense cowardice and herd mentality, to be sure. The few who exercise independent thought and courage of conviction combined with integrity are rare jewels in the rough. Thank you for being my jemstone.
I am deeply sorry for the way you are being addressed here by “my colleague,” who clearly is no such thing. This is the very attitude and treatment I have been living with at work for 12 yrs. Thank you for calling it out as the mobbing it so clearly is. It is why I am compelled to speak truth to power at this particular time. For example, peoples beliefs about vaccines in general cannot dissuade me from sharing the accurate information about this human experiment at this historical point in time. Their anger, ridicule and contempt is only a personal choice. It is not at all a reflection of who I am. To your concerns about my “beliefs” with which you cannot align, as one who has been discriminated against my entire career, you can rest assured that I am not racist in any sense of the word, nor antisemitic. Why would one who knows what oppression feels like do that to another? Those accusing me have a pattern of crying wolf. My employer knows this but they are permitting the noise to hang in the air.
Your efforts have not gone unnoticed nor unappreciated. I hope we can meet some day so that I may properly thank you.
I think the only person who cares about this anymore is Melissa Wimbish, and the ship is sinking.
I just heard Melissa Wimbush sing on some clips she posted for an upcoming recital. Her voice instantly made my cat jump off of her perch and run out of the room. If the window was open she would have likely jumped out of it to meet certain death.
just read this compelling text in the Baltimore Sun and recall Emily Skala’s wonderful personality and performances with São Paulo State Symphony (Brazil) during one of our European tours…
https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/readers-respond/bs-ed-rr-0327-skala-bso-reponse-20210326-swv4a7u7kvfmrfx7utkmdatn4y-story.html
Crazy that she hails originally from liberal Vermont – home of the first female state governor, the first nuclear freeze referendum, and the first state to legalize civil unions.
Odd that she was raised in liberal Vermont, home of the first woman governor, the first nuclear freeze referendum, and the first state to legalize civil unions!