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!Your portfolio career is YOURS to design. If you are seeking inspiration, grab the first chapter of my book for FREE at the link below! You are allowed to thrive, and your artistry MATTERS.https://jennetingle.kit.com/c6e4009529Make 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! 

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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Rania Awaad Muslim Central Dr. Rania Awaad M.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine where she is the Director of the Stanford Muslim Mental Health & Islamic Psychology Lab as well as Stanford University’s Affiliate Chaplain. In the community, she serves as the Executive Director of Maristan.org, a holistic mental health nonprofit serving Muslim communities, and the Director of The Rahmah Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating Muslim women and girls. In addition, she is faculty of Islamic Psychology at Cambridge Muslim College and The Islamic Seminary of America.She is also a Senior Fellow for Yaqeen Institute and the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding. Prior to studying medicine, she pursued classical Islamic studies in Damascus, Syria, and holds certifications (ijaza) in the Qur’an, Islamic Law, and other branches of the Islamic Sciences. KBACH's Classical Next KBACH 89.5FM Phoenix Each month we recognize one student on air during KBACH’s Classical Next initiative, celebrating the future of classical music. Tune in each month to hear our interview with this month’s winner. The President's Desk at Hillcrest Academy Brad Hoganson Exploring the link of discipleship, mentorship and classical education at Hillcrest Academy. AbdelRahman Murphy Muslim Central Ustadh AbdelRahman Murphy is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a Bachelor’s in Teaching of English and Religious Studies. He is currently pursuing his Master’s in Mental Health Counseling. He has served as a youth director, Muslim chaplain, and assistant imam in a full-time capacity since 2009.His Islamic studies background includes completing an Imam Certificate Program in Makkah, Saudi Arabia under the mentorship and training of Shaykh Khalid Hilwany. While growing up in the Chicagoland area, he spent two years studying at Riyadh As Saliheen Institute under Shaykhs Ehab Ash-Shaer and Abu Abdullah. While finishing his university studies, he benefitted directly from the training and teaching of Professor Omer Mozaffar in areas of Quran and texts of Imam Ghazali. After graduating with his BA, Ustadh AbdelRahman moved to Dallas, where he began reading classical texts with Shaykh AbdulNasir Jangda. In May of 2014, he formally graduated from the Qalam Seminary’s o

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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...

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