A challenging oboist confronts his dystonia
NewsThe Brazilian Alex Klein, dismissed yesterday as principal oboe by the Calgary Philharmonic, has issued a Yotube video describing his struggles with the onset of dystonia. ‘I lost just about everything a person can lose,’ he says.
Klein was fired for allegedly publishing inappropriate messages on social media.
The dystonia has nothing to do with his dismissal.
No, but it’s a “handy” excuse for why one starts inappropriately touching their students out of the blue. True story.
I am sorry for his dystonia, but what I don’t understand is, if he can’t play principal for one orchestra (never mind that it is Chicago), how can he play principal for any other (never mind it is Calgary)?
Concretely, Calgary just takes a slower tempo for every piece than Chicago? Calgary lets Klein take all the time he needs for his solos?
Maybe it was never about the playing…
I’m guessing they have a less demanding season with fewer concerts, allowing more rest
Ask any of his peers in Chicago what it was like working with him. Your window to this world will be clear and vivid.
Almost good enough for Chicago (they thought he was worth a try-out year) might well be good enough for Calgary.
Klein was principal oboe in Chicago from 1995 to 2004, but had to leave because of the very issue which the video in this article is about, focal dystonia. I don’t know for sure why he failed the probationary period when he went back to the orchestra.
Alex chose to leave the CSO in 2004. Reporting that he lost his job because of focal dystonia is untrue.
When he was later rehired by the CSO he failed to pass his probationary trial.
Calgary is a fine orchestra but has a much less demanding season than the CSO.
So…dysmissal?? 🙂
I understood that he re-auditioned for Chicago after his issues with FD eased. He returned on fewer hours. I have no idea why he is now facing these issues and what evidence exists.
This first step in avoiding a trap (with an online troll), is knowing of their existence. Use Facebook for fami
Putting aside the issues with his firing by Calgary, the focal dystonia is indeed a tragedy. A principal player in one of the world’s top orchestras finds he can no longer physically play, at least to the demands of the job. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. His winning back the job a decade later – after some rehabilitation and re-invention – was truly a feel-good story that I can’t imagine anyone begrudged. Losing a tenure decision a year later was definitely a sad way for that to end.
Alex is always strong, outspoken & says what he believes. That can rub people the wrong way. He’s also Brazilian, not North American, which can result in cultural differences & communication problems.
Interestingly, the ringleader of this current wave of sexual accusations is also a principal oboist. She’s openly clashed with Alex. Before this incident, she featured him on her website as a bad man who had said something to her. I read the post & I still don’t understand what he did, except being a successful male oboist. She tends to go after men who are not North American who might have cultural differences with her very US-centric views. She would never survive outside the US. Similarly here, I don’t see any proof of what he’s done. I only hope that Calgary did thorough factual investigation.
I agree that we have to be vigilant about sexual abuses, but at this point it’s degenerating into a witch hunt. This female oboist has a long history of online gang activity. See the Slipped Disc post “I was the victim of an oboe hate mob”, referring to another oboist she ganged up on with her online cult several years ago. She also went after her orch’s concertmaster. The dramatic firing of the Principal Flute who sat next to her for years may be unrelated, but it’s common knowledge that she is creating a toxic workplace in her own orchestra.
I know Alex to have integrity and honor & I am very suspicious of these accusations by this vindictive attention-seeking female oboist. She stirs trouble up to call attention to herself as the erstwhile savior of the repressed in music . When she doesn’t have solid info, she stirs up enough online momentum to witch hunt people anyway. If you call her out with the truth & you’re a man, she’ll sic her gang on you as being part of the problem. If you’re another woman, she just blocks you from her page. She doesn’t want the truth, she wants adoration.
I would like to know what the facts are here with Mr. Klein. Calgary is home base for several prestigious international soloists. I’d like to know for sure that he actually did something & isn’t just the victim of a political gang bang.
Have you read the messages he texted to her? The content of which got him fired? Or are you just spouting off? Your characterization of her as a “vindictive attention-seeking female oboist” speaks volumes….about you.
Laura, what does it say about me, exactly? You’re reacting precisely as KN’s cult always does. You assume that any criticism of KN must be coming from a man. That speaks volume about. . .YOU.
And Laura, what messages? If you click Klein’s name on her website, the only messages which come up are by a US clarinetist, not by Mr. Klein. Where are these messages?
The Needlewoman seems to spend more time protesting to get rid of men than dedicating herself to music.I ignored when she managed to get the music critic fired but now she has gone to far and her needles are definitely in the firing one of the greatest oboists of our time,Klein.
Wow. You’re a misguided ass. All she is doing is presenting these own men’s actions and words…as they are…for once, rather than quietly protecting awful behavior. Shame on you, and may you never have power over anybody.
Anon, that would be great except that KN already has a track record of online gang harassment about issues which have nothing to do with protecting women, only about protecting her own career. Here’s another non-US oboist who also lost his job because of her attacks. https://slippedisc.com/2016/06/i-was-victim-of-an-oboe-hate-mob/
She is not just “presenting men’s actions & words” in a constructive way. She & her gang scour social media for pics & posts featuring too many men & attack the poster &/or organization. This might conceivably work within the US, but they often go after small, community groups in remote non-US countries who are struggling to put together any event celebrating classical music. These folks often don’t speak English & have no concept of US cultural norms. They are bewildered as to why they’re being attacked by a gang of angry US women. Instead of helping them understand, KN & her gang mock, deride, ridicule these posters in brutal online auto-de-fes which always end horribly. I’ve observed this behavior repeatedly & it’s clear that KN has no concept of the fact that countries outside the US are not perfectly in synch with US cultural values. She has no respect for non US cultures or how differences might be diplomatically addressed. She is a true US cultural imperialist & she should wear that title as proudly as she does her “Queen of Filth” moniker.
Neither you nor anyone knows whether Katherine Needleman’s posting of messages from Alex and others has anything to do with his firing by Calgary; it just seems to be an assumption people have. Because I guess he couldn’t possibly have engaged in any other bad behavior?
I don’t know the Canadian legal system but I would have to think the Calgary Philharmonic wouldn’t first Alex (or Slavko) without a fairly substantial and legally defensible dossier of misconduct. i.e. they’re not just going on some screenshots from another oboe player.
Bravo anon for all the above statement…Alex is a genius, one of the greatest oboists in the world, winner of numerous international awards, an Emmy, etc …Calagry will go down as disgraceful in musical history for sacking a great musician based on his statements on Facebook..even Trump gets a jury trial!…the initials of the person persecuting Alex is KN and she plays oboe in Baltimore and recently misleadingly wrote on Facebook that i never played solo English horn in the Israel Philharmonic ..i had to dig up a letter from thev
orchestra from only 57 years ago proving that I played with them in Israel and on tour of the European festivals ..she and her groupies also.protested this past week at the NYPhil to demand that two musicians who were suspended years ago and then re- instated only to be suspended again ( after a recent article in NYMagazine) never return….she also managed to get a music critic fired who wrote a bad review of a recording she did and also pursued a top Hollywood movie oboist, whose wife and friends of both sexes came to his rescue …Beware!
The world’s had enough of his crocodile tears.
Alex and Slavko were fired for their own disgusting behaviour and nobody else’s. Calgary has the right to rid their organization of those who continue to embarrass the organization publicly.
I worked with Alex a few times before. He’s a genuine, warm-hearted man who’s spent much time and energy to help the most underprivileged Brazilian kids to pursue music. True, often he’s too outspoken for his own good, but I wouldn’t believe for a second that he is a real misogynists.
I have nothing to gain or lose from whatever happens to him. But what’s true needs to be said.