Katherine Needleman: Oboist, Musician, Arranger, Composer, Etc. Queen of Filth episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 31, 2025 · 40 MIN

Katherine Needleman: Oboist, Musician, Arranger, Composer, Etc. Queen of Filth

from Crushing Classical

Katherine Needleman is a musician from Baltimore, Maryland, USA. She was introduced to music in the formerly robust music education programs of the public school system, having played violin, clarinet, oboe, keyboards, and percussion there. She was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age 16 and dropped out of high school to attend. Later, she was expelled for academic incompetence by the Juilliard School in New York a month after winning their oboe concerto competition. She has played the oboe professionally for a long time now and has observed her own feelings about being one of the few women included change over time. She is very interested in the potential of music and tries to write some herself. She is interested in the relationship between composers, performers, and the stage. Recent musical highlights for Needleman include accompanying her cellist daughter in the Haydn C Major Concerto at a middle school assembly, a recital where most everything felt right and good at a retirement home outside of Philadelphia, and an 8am performance of her “Stolen Prophet” for oboe and piano and her “Spike Protein” for twelve oboes in Kansas. She enjoys arranging music she loves by dead white men and people who aren’t dead white men to make it possible to play great music not written for the oboe on the oboe. She maintains a blog and Facebook page of some notoriety about her observations of and experiences in the world and the classical music industry. She has been hailed by the New York Times as a “small, intense woman.”You likely know her from her work exposing the patriarchy that has long gone unnoticed in classical music, and from her substack newsletter at https://substack.com/@katherineneedlemanoboist.Make sure you SUBSCRIBE to Crushing Classical, and maybe even leave a nice review! Thanks for joining me on Crushing Classical! Theme music by DreamVance.I help people to lean into their creative careers and start or grow their income streams. You can read more or hop onto a discovery call from my website.  https://jennetingle.com/work-with-meI'm your host, Jennet Ingle. I love you all. Stay safe out there!Book a free discovery call with me! We can spend an hour looking at your creative career. You deserve to thrive, and your artistry matters. https://calendly.com/jennet/thmMake sure you SUBSCRIBE to Crushing Classical, and maybe even leave a nice review! Thanks for joining me on Crushing Classical! Theme music by DreamVance.I help people to lean into their creative careers and start or grow their income streams. You can read more or hop onto a discovery call from my website.  https://jennetingle.com/work-with-meI'm your host, Jennet Ingle. I love you all. Stay safe out there! 

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Katherine Needleman is a musician from Baltimore, Maryland, USA. She was introduced to music in the formerly robust music education programs of the public school system, having played violin, clarinet, oboe, keyboards, and percussion there. She was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age 16 and dropped out of high school to attend. Later, she was expelled for academic incompetence by the Juilliard School in New York a month after winning their oboe concerto competitio...

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Katherine Needleman: Oboist, Musician, Arranger, Composer, Etc. Queen of Filth

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