Baltimore names principal flute
OrchestrasThe Baltimore Symphony has chosen Martha Conwell Long as principal flute. She is presently with the Oregon Symphony.
Ms Long replaces Emily Skala, who was dismissed amid a Covid furore in August 2021.
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Wow. This is a flutist whose professional successes seem to rest on replacing colleagues who were fired under controversial circumstances.
In 2016, Martha Long joined the Oregon Symphony, replacing (although not the immediate replacement) long-time Oregon Principal Flute Dawn Weiss.
Dawn Weiss is a highly respected artist who had served in Oregon for decades. Enter new music director Carlos Kalmar, now famous for his alleged misogyny and poor treatment of musicians in Cleveland. Weiss was one of his first victims, long before his behavior was well known. Kalmar fired her after a year of Machiavellian challenges trying to prove that she was not musically fit to hold her job. Weiss, a career flutist in her 50’s, was fired with no pension, no compensation, nothing. Martha Long was eventually appointed by Kalmar to replace her.
Martha Long held that position in Oregon until the next major flute firing: Emily Skala in Baltimore. Skala, like Weiss, is a middle aged career flutist who’d also held her position for decades & was ALSO fired in an unprecedented situation. It’s recent enough that readers here probably remember. It’s last reported that Skala is working in a low-paying, non-music job just to scrape by. She lost her orch position, her students, her good name, everything. Perhaps it was more warranted than Dawn Weiss’ firing, but both dismissals were unprecedented & rocked the orchestral world.
Unlike the alleged rapists of NYPhil, these women weren’t hired back or put on paid leave. They didn’t sue for defamation as the New Yorkers did. They were simply thrown into the street with no compensation, their careers destroyed forever.
It’s just a very odd coincidence that of all the qualified Principal Flutists in the world, that the same person, Martha Long, replaced both of them. Once, it seemed a coincidence & easy to overlook. Twice, you really have to wonder. . .
This sounds needlessly critical of Ms. Long who must have won this position after a rigorous audition process, part of which must have been behind a screen according to AFofM rules.
No criticism here. Kudos to anyone who wins a flute position these days. It’s an observation of curiously similar circumstances, nothing more.
This indirectly highlights the enormous difference in consequences between men & women being fired from major orch positions.
When tenured male players like Wang & Stuckey in NY are fired, the union comes to their rescue. They get paid leave, the union defends them and even has them reinstated. When that doesn’t work, these men sue for defamation. Their female victim is the one asked to leave with an NDA.
When tenured women like Weiss and Skala are fired, the union does nothing. They get no paid leave, no defense from the union, no compensation. Women bow their heads and leave quietly with nothing, their careers destroyed forever.
Why are women – Weiss, Skala & even Cara Kizer, expected to leave obediently when men feel justified in becoming righteous, litigious monsters?
What’s more offensive – being accused of an alleged rape or being accused of being a covid denier or of having a tone which a conductor doesn’t like?
It doesn’t seem to me that the women in these scenarios got fair consideration. It also seems to me that any woman hired to replace them should be keenly aware of the circumstances of who they’re replacing and why and treat the situation sensitively and with respect. “There but for the grace of God” and so on.
As to the legions of naive flutists who blindly support any new flute appointment, please show some respect for the colleagues who lost their positions so that Martha Long could be appointed. These women are also members of the flute community.
You do know that there were other flutists playing in Oregon after Dawn and before Martha, correct? She was in her first years of college when Dawn’s contract was not renewed. Plus, Martha had nothing to do with Emily’s firing, which was a violation of the Baltimore symphony’s contract on multiple grounds.
The union was in fact involved in the case of Dawn Weiss, but proper procedures had been followed so her appeal was unsuccessful. In Skala’s case she had clearly and flagrantly broken orchestra rules so it was not a matter the union could get involved in. There is a big difference between being sacked for covid-related violations, and not having your contract renewed because a new musical director wanted a different sound.
The legal ins-and-outs of the case of the two disgraceful NYP players are more complicated.
Your idea of a conspiracy to sack flautists so that Martha Long could be appointed is ridiculous!
Again, it’s an observation not a conspiracy. It could just as well be an observation of the hiring practices of the 2 orchs, who, to their credit, are consistantly hiring US women flute principals. That’s a good thing.
Considering that the preference (seems like MD choice) in many top US orchs is overwhelmingly in favor of white, European or Canadian male flute soloists – or Asian, if none are available – kudos to Oregon & Baltimore for appointing US women Principal Flutes.
What’s not a good thing is that the pool of top orchs open to hiring US women is apparently so small that the same few candidates, like Martha Long, are recycled, in this case, thru 2 of them.
When something goes wrong with their appointee, as it did in both orchs, they appoint another US woman. Enter Martha Long. Good, but it would be nice if all top orchs were open to hiring US women flute principals, not just these 2.
It would have been great to see Martha Long in the finals for SF or Boston, for example. Instead, those jobs went to Asian male & a Canadian woman. She’s predictably going to another orch with a tradition of hiring women flute principals.
None of this is on Martha Long, so stop trying to making it out to be that.
What I fault here are the dumbed down mostly flute player cheerleaders in this comment section who have no clue as to the history of orchestral flute successions in the US or how they affect the stability of the orch profession going forward.
Treat the flute players who’ve gone before you with respect. When someone like Martha Long is hired for a position, yes, cheer for her. But be aware that she’s arrived there on the shoulders of 2 women, both fine musicians, who are still with us. Without that awareness, history will repeat itself. Another woman may be fired. It could be you.
OK, so we again we have downthumbers here who believe that it’s OK to fire tenured women but not tenured men & that tenured women who are fired or asked to leave with NDAs should be swept under the rug and forgotten.
Great. No wonder the orch profession is in trouble!
Has it occurred to you that the reason Martha is appointed in these situations is because…she did well at the audition and trial? She also was in the finals previously for Cleveland, St Louis, and Chicago-she’s not some random person out to ruin things.
“Some random person out to ruin things”?!!! Wow. Sounds like you’re the conspiracy theorist here.
OK, so judging from this informal poll of downthumbs, looks like most believe that when women are fired from an orch. they should go quietly but when men are fired they should be reinstated, paid for their time & sue for defamation.
Surprising, but good to know, I guess.
Not the immediate replacement – indeed. Dawn Weiss left the Oregon Symphony in 2005. What strange conspiracy theory are you suggesting?
The Oregon Symphony and Kalmar tossed aside another female principal flutist who went on to win a position with the Cleveland Orchestra. Talk about vindication!
As I recall, Skala refused a vaccine requirement. Though under mob attack for political reasons, she was fired for refusing the vaccine. On musical grounds, she could have kept her job.
She was right to refuse. The vaccines prevented neither infection nor transmission. Emily chose not to have this shot coursing round her body and certainly should jot have lost her job because of that decision.
Hi Anon,
Martha began in Oregon in 2015 after winning an audition for a vacancy for principal flute. She was previously principal in San Antonio. She had nothing to do with Dawn Weiss or the previous principal’s tenure experiences with Carlos. Martha also had nothing to do with Emily Skala’s firing. Don’t try to make gossip where there is none.
Blair – Of course she had nothing to do with either. How would that even have been possible?
Stop being defensive. No one is criticizing Martha Long. It’s simply an odd turn in orchestral flute successions which is worth observing.
if we don’t remember our history, it will repeat itself. I’m observing. Please get off your high horse.
This is ridiculous.
Dawn Weiss was dismissed in 2005. Martha Long joined in 2016. I don’t see any connection.
There were at least two others who served in the OSO principal flute seat between 2005 and 2016, including Jessica Sindell who won a competitive screened audition right out of Eastman in 2012 to join the OSO as principal flute. (She is now assoc. principal in Cleveland.)
Jessica was never tenured with OSO. Nor were the others after Weiss as far as I know. The guy might have been, but he left so quickly it’s hard to tell.
To my knowledge, Long was the first permanent, tenured Principal after Weiss. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
The key word here is “tenured”. Do you understand what that’s supposed to mean?
When orchs start firing tenured Principals, it’s worrisome for everyone in the profession. We want to be watching. We need to remember what happened.
I’d think that any player walking into a situation where a tenured predecessor has been fired would want to be aware of the circumstances. Supportive colleagues would want her to know.
But no, you think it’s “ridiculous”. US people are so obsessed with conspiracy theories that they think that recalling how Long’s predecessors departed is a “conspiracy theory”! That’s just crazy.
Since the arrival of Mark C. Hanson in 2022, the Baltimore Symphony has been advertising–and filling–vacancies. The new faces are quite visible, and audible. This along with the appointment of Jonathon Hayward as MD, with plans such as a complete opera in. concert each season. Attendance is up, though still spotty. A success story in the making, at a time when there seem to be few.
Why don’t they just reinstate Emily Skala now that those who promoted the covid scam have been largely discredited?
Only in your mind.
You don’t read much, do you?
What happened to Emily Skala is a disgrace.
That Covid “scam” killed 54,000 of my fellow New Yorkers. You are not entitled to “your own facts”
Was that before or after the “vaccine?” Such distinctions are important.
Before. Mind you, for those who decided that vaccination was a bad idea, there are 500,000 of them dead too in the USA.
There is now (and was even a few years ago) strong evidence that the “vaccines” did not slow the spread, and that they were mostly useful only to those who had diminished immune systems or were quite elderly.
The entire COVID insanity was an epic debacle, and the “follow the science” “I am science” BS preached by Anthony Fauci and the public health bureaucracies was massive groupthink on an epic scale.
The testing regime was a joke, and positive tests were not a sign of the likelihood of infection let alone transmission. Just like deaths “from” COVID or “with” COVID.
The entire orchestral world was totally engulfed by this groupthink? Do you ever wonder why?
Well said. The evidence is out there, but there are none as blind as will not see.
That might be more attractive if anyone wanted her back.
Bravo maestra!
Baltimore SO woodwinds must’ve been interesting with Skala and Needleman around.
Great for her! We will propably hear her more in future!
A bit sad for Oregon because they are veterans to organize principal flute auditions. In 2011 David Buck moved to LA Phil, then came Jessica Sindell (currently in Cleveland) and then Ms. Long so hopely they will find player who really enjoy time in there. It must be frustrating to look new key players quite often.
Congratulations young lady!
Play some beautiful music