Tine Thing Helseth is a world-renowned female trumpet player from Norway. Tine Thing is known as one of the foremost trumpet players of our time. She has worked with numerous orchestras, and that is actually how I heard of her for the first time.
On top of being a world-renowned trumpet player, Helseth has a group consisting of ten females in a brass ensemble called tenThing. It started out as a group of four girls that played trumpet and Tine Thing thought it would be cool to make a full brass ensemble of only girls. They have this group to have fun and that is one thing I can appreciate. I think as musicians we get so worked up with ensembles and performances that we forget to have fun.
This video is a short introduction of the group and then I will also provide their Spotify playlist
Genghis Barbie is an all-female horn quartet that originated in New York and the performers having a total of 24 years of conservatory training. This group was formed during the recession when there was not enough work to go around. They are known for playing literature outside of the standard horn music literature. Unlike most horn ensembles these four females play the kind of music you would hear on the radio and will also have classical music thrown into the mix for a concert I found this great article focusing on an interview with the group and it talks about a lot of important topics that you should check out if you have time, but I found this one particular question/answer interesting.
"IM: You have a very distinctive artistic profile—not only with what you play, but how you present it. How would you describe your artistic identity, and how did it develop?
Drehmann: The group developed initially because we were all good friends. From a musical perspective, Genghis Barbie was our outlet to play whatever we wanted and play it however we felt like. We really weren’t concerned whether people would like it or approve of it from a classical standpoint. That wasn’t our goal—we just wanted to have fun. We decided to start a Facebook page, and soon after, released our first YouTube video, Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose.” We knew a great photographer, Spencer Lloyd, and decided to have fun with some photos (our name is Genghis Barbie after all!). We realized there was no limit to what we could do as long as we were having fun. We first decided on the Genghis Barbie image to make ourselves out as these French horn warrior women, which, in a way, we are, as strong and independent New York City ladies. During the photo shoot we came up with our alter egos: Velvet Barbie, Freedom Barbie, Cosmic Barbie, Sunshine Barbie, and Attila the Horn. I mean, why not? Since then, I think we have actually toned it down a bit, but it remains that Genghis Barbie is where we all come to have fun, make our own choices, and be ourselves. We try to let our concerts, master classes, recordings, and YouTube videos reflect this. We honestly just want to spread our love for music and our joy in playing music with each other. "
My biggest takeaway from this answer is they did not care about the response they would get from forming this group. They formed it, started doing their own thing, and most importantly love doing it. Honestly think this is a key element for anything you do and I loved their answer!
Just for fun.... Here is a recording of Take on Me which was used in the show "The Leftovers" on HBO.
Abbie Conant is a Juilliard trained Trombone player who is known for her fight against gender discrimination with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. I figured this blog would be a great place to share her story. Abbie Conant took a screen audition in 1980 with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and won the principal trombone position. This is a snippet from an article You Sound Like a Ladies' Orchestra called Sixteen is a Number!
In 1980 Ms. Abbie Conant applied for eleven trombone positions advertised in Germany.She received only one audition invitation: a letter from the Munich Philharmonic addressed to a Herr Abbie Conant.(1)
She auditioned on June 19, 1980 and competed against 32 men. The first round was held behind a screen. She was sixteenth to play and no candidates who played after her were selected for the second round. When the finalists’ numbers were called, there was amazement that trombone sixteen was a woman. In the second and third rounds, done without a screen, she clearly defeated her male opponents, and the orchestra voted to hire her.
According to orchestra chairman Deinhardt Goritski, general music director Celibidache was opposed to employing her(2), but he was new with the orchestra and not yet in a position to overrule it. He was, for example, still bargaining with the city about demands he wanted, and threatening to leave if they were not fulfilled.
One change was made. In the thirteen years since then, no more Munich Philharmonic auditions have been held behind a screen.(3)
This piece from the article is just the beginning of her story. Mrs. Conant spent 11 years in court battling this case of discrimination and had it documented by her husband William Osborne. This document, as you can see in the short snippet I provided, has footnotes from 89 actual court records that support his article. This main document has been used to create many articles and newspapers focusing on her case. After she won this long court case, she won a full-tenured Professor job at the University of Music in Germany and ended up leaving the orchestra in 1993. She now teaches masterclasses around the world and works on music theater music for trombone.
After discussing the Stiletto Brass I decided to look into one of the females in the group, Velvet Brown. Velvet Brown is a professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Pennsylvania State University. Before her time at Penn State, she taught at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and Ball State University (Indiana) and served as an associate director of University Bands at Boston University.
On top of being a founding board member of the International Women’s Brass Conference, Ms. Brown was one of the founding members of the Stiletto Brass. Brown is currently the principal tubist of the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and the Altoona Symphony Orchestra. She has also served as principal tuba with the River City Brass band, San Francisco Women’s Philharmonic, and many other orchestras around the country.
I decided to look into a recording of hers and found she wrote a CD called Simply Velvet. I hope you enjoy a little of her playing, I found it to be quite impressive.
Stiletto Brass is a brass ensemble that is known for the red stilettos and their outstanding brass playing. The group was formed in 2010, has gained exposure as a leading ensemble with performances with Doc Severinsen, at the International Women's Brass Conference, and the National Trumpet Competition.
Pictured: Amy Gilreath and Susan Rider, trumpets; Misty Tolle, horn; Natalie Mannix, trombone; and Velvet Brown, tuba. You can check out their bios here. The group according to “The Brass Herald”
"reflects timely changes in the music scene. Its energetic and diversified repertoire includes avant-garde compositions written by leading composers of our time, as well as classical and popular works from the Baroque period to Gershwin. Stiletto’s concerts are fun, serious, heart-warming, emotionally intense, and always an audience’s favorite!"
I wanted to include this video of them playing with Doc at The Great American Brass Festival held in Kentucky. Reminds me of something you would hear on the street of New Orleans.
Another strong female Brass player is Gail Robertson. Dr. Robertson serves as Assistant Professor of Tuba and Euphonium/Jazz at the University of Central Arkansas.Robertson was elected Vice President/President-Elect of the International Tuba and Euphonium Association (ITEA) for a six-year term that began July 1, 2017. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Leonard Falcone Tuba and Euphonium Festival. She is Past President of the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) and co-hosted two international conferences (2006, 2010). Gail was Chair/Chief Editor of the International Tuba and Euphonium Press (2012-2017). She also served as Euphonium and Membership Coordinator of the ITEA and was the featured artist on the cover of the ITEA Journal (Vol. 38:1, Fall 2010). She has degrees from the University of Central Florida, Indiana University (Go Hoosiers), and Michigan State University. In between her time at Indiana and Michigan, Roberston spent time playing in the Tubafours, which at the time was performing in places like Walt Disney World. She now performs in the Brass Band of Battle Creek and Pinnacle Brass.
Pinnacle Brass was founded in 2001 by the UCA brass faculty as its resident brass quintet. Its mission is to enrich the lives of students through the demonstration of professional chamber music performance practice; to benefit the university and community. I was unable to find a recording of this group online so instead will show you a recording of Dr. Robertson playing in How High the Moon by David Werden.
Alison Balsom is a world-renowned trumpet player that studied at the Paris Conservatoire and Guildhall School of Music. Balsom is known for both her modern and natural trumpet playing, but she mainly focuses on the more natural trumpet side of playing. While being a visiting Professor at Guildhall, Balsom also travels the country giving master classes, and performing with world-renowned orchestras such as the New York Phil.
With Alison focusing on works from the Baroque era she created an ensemble of handpicked players, that focus on Baroque playing, and created the Balsom Ensemble. This ensemble consists of five trumpets, a percussionist, lute, harpsichord/organ, three violins, viola, cello, and bass. With this ensemble, she was able to make recordings focusing on Bach, Handel, Purcell, and other composers from the era.
The most recent CD she has made with this group is called Royal Fireworks. On this CD she has Baroque classics as well as new music written for the Baroque instruments.
Balsom mentions this is the most fun she had making a CD in her twenty years of making recordings. You can hear the excitement in her voice in this video provided. This recording was released on November 8th, 2019 and this video below has Balsom talking about the process and you can see the recording area and hear parts of the CD.
