New York Philharmonic’s First Female Full-Time Player Featured In Oscar-Nominated Doc

Orin OBrien with Leonard Bernstein. Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix

The double bassist Orin O’Brien is the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary The Only Girl in the Orchestra. O’Brien was the first full-time female member of the New York Philharmonic.

Beat on the ground: This year’s Oscar-nominated documentaries includes prime-time Emmy Award winner Molly O’Brien’s The Only Girl in the Orchestra. O’Brien’s documentary features her aunt, the double bassist Orin O’Brien. In 1966, O’Brien became the New York Philharmonic’s first full-time female player. She played with the New York Philharmonic until her retirement in 2021.

The backstory: The 89-year-old double bassist Orin O’Brien was born in Hollywood, California in 1935. She studied at the Juilliard School and played with the New York City Ballet beginning in 1956, before she joined the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein’s tenure in 1966. Bernstein may also have played a part in hiring her as the orchestra’s first full-time female member.

While O’Brien may have been the only woman in the orchestra during her time, she was not the orchestra’s first female member. In 1922, Harpist Stephanie “Steffy” Goldner (1896-1962) became the New York Philharmonic’s first woman musician. When Goldner resigned to support her husband in 1932, the NYPhil did not engage another woman for 25 years.

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Sara Schabas

Sara Schabas is a Dora-nominated soprano, writer and yoga teacher. She has performed and created leading roles with companies including Vancouver Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, the Dayton Opera, and Aspen Opera, and is a former member of Barbara Hannigan’s Equilibrium Young Artists. Currently based in Montreal, she is a doctoral student at McGill University — where she recently received the Wirth Vocal Prize — and editor of Art Song Canada magazine.