“I hope the Woman’s Orchestra will be an incentive to young women musicians everywhere to study the more unusual orchestra instruments.”
-Lillian Poenisch, 1926
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In the 1920s, a woman could smoke, raise her hemline, even cast a vote. But all the talent in the world couldn’t get her a chair in a symphony orchestra (unless, of course, she played the harp). So in Chicago, as in other cities around the country, female musicians founded their own orchestra so they could not only play but also nurture talents in the tuba, bassoon and other instruments ordinarily considered too masculine for the ladies. After 20 artistically successful but financially difficult years, the Woman’s Symphony Orchestra disbanded in 1947-but not before one of its alumni, French horn player Helen Kotas, became the first full-fledged female member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Percentage of women in today’s CSO: 33.
Note played on the oboe to tune an orchestra: A.
Young composer who guest conducted the Woman’s Symphony in one of its last concerts, in 1947: Leonard Bernstein.
Sources: Tribune archives, CSO, League of American Orchestras, “The Woman’s Symphony Orchestra of Chicago” by Linda Dempf, Notes, June 1, 2006.
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nwatkins@tribune.com
