Baltimore mourns first woman player

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has announced the death of Joan Champie, the first woman to be admitted to its ranks. Champie, who was 92, played second oboe from 1955 to 1962.

She had a struggle to get there. At the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, the influential oboist Marcel Tabuteau told her ‘I don’t want to waste Curtis’s money on a woman,’ before taking her on as a private student. By way of reward, he let her sweep his studio floors.

Eventually, unable to reconcile her orchestra duties with raising two small children, Champie stepped down from the Baltimore Symphony after seven years.

She went on to obtain a university degree in speech pathology and a pilot’s license.