Abbie Conant: The Trombonist Who Shattered the Glass Ceiling 

MAJOR CORRECTION ACCORDING TO ABBIE CONANT!!! There is one factual error that I should correct. I didn’t lie about my gender in my 1980 application for the Munich Philharmonic. In fact, applicants back then were required to include a photo with their application. I was living in Italy at the time and had never been to Germany. I didn’t even know that women there could face problems in orchestras and thus had no reason to hide my gender. The reason my application got through is that the orchestra decided to invite everyone and hold the first round behind a screen. This was very rare in Germany in those days, but they were used for my audition because of special circumstances. A young local trombonist had applied for the job. The bass trombonist in the Munich Phil, Robert Meissner, was a friend of both the young trombonist and his father (who was also a trombonist.) He was thus trying to set the job up for the son. The first trombonist in the orchestra, Dankfart Schmidt, got wind of this and objected. He thus persuaded the administration to invite every applicant and hold the first round of the audition behind a screen. The applications were thus not closely scrutinized and everyone was invited. To preserve anonymity at the audition, no names were listed and everyone played behind a screen. Months later I learned that after I won the audition, Robert Meissner was so furious he invited Dankfart out to the parking lot for a fist fight. Dankfart declined. I showed up for work at the beginning of the season and had no idea of the troubles I would be walking into. Many thanks to Jack for putting my story into a style that fits the younger generation. Unfortunately, it's still relevant. Jack's RU-vid "Trombone Channel" is a real service to the community.

Outstanding trombonist but more importantly, a woman who successfully challenged gender basis. She is a true pioneer and female civil rights activist.

It is shameful that Abbie had to endure such harassment. No person should have to suffer the way she did. Her perseverance and determination is a testament to her strength of character.

Great story! Just to correct a detail: Vinko Globokar is Slovene, not French. Although he was born in France, both parents were from Slovenia and he returned to Ljubljana when he was 13.

What is the name of the trombone solo that you use in your intro?

Thank you so much for making this video over Abbie's battle with gender bias. She is a hero and deserves so much honor and respect not only for her renown abilities and talent, but also for surviving what she endured.

When are you gonna make a video on the different types of valves? I can't find anything to research.

Years ago the principal trumpet in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra was a woman. Amazing player.

Is this the story of Conant & the Barbarian?

Wow ridiculous. Glad she kept up the good fight.

I wish she would have came to the US and taken a great position. I know we weren’t so prejudiced towards women musicians in the 80s and 90s we were behind that finally by then.

jesus

This is an excellent video, but I have one complaint: the narrator talks too fast. I am an older person, and I cannot follow the rapid flow of the content. Please slow down and leave room between your phrases.

Intriguing story! Unfortunately, the innumerable grammatical errors and mispronunciations rendered this narration virtually impossible to tolerate. Brava, Abbie, for your skills and your career! Yours is a story worth hearing, it’s a crying shame this narrator is such a poor communicator.

Great story, thanks for putting this together :) Just one small problem - you talk too fast, seriously !

The fast. rapid, monotone parsing and patter of the narrator is Ffing awful and makes this unwatchable. Such a shame. Nesti time, how about some concern for quality.

you paint europe in such a bad light bro...

With the intensive research that was done on this video, one would think that the author would get all the correct facts. If he would have read the last chapter of ‘Blink’ by Malcom Gladwell, perhaps he would have prevented a great faux pas. This video should be taken off RU-vid, edited and corrected. She did not misrepresent her gender for the audition.

Talented trombonist, but it appears fraud is part of her success. Talent should not be judged apart from integrity.