My admiration for your courage and bravery continues to grow.
This charge paints a damning picture of your orchestra and the mismanagement of your harassment. Breaking orchestral cultural rules (ex: all the power shenanigans around the giving of the a), is REALLY difficult to explain outside of our very small, weird culture.
To me, it sounds as if your orchestra administrators were in thrall of his power, too.
In watching harassment in my own orchestra, I find there are periods of peace followed by BS followed by seeming peace followed by more BS……and so it continues…..it’s very cyclical.
I’ve often wondered how you find the energy to be such a badass advocate.
I think understand now? You are standing up with your big voice for the amazing Katherine Needleman that endured this egregious behaviour for so many years. Your advocacy is therapy? I love it. It’s like watching healing in civic action. May your brave actions bring you some measure of peace for all you have gone through.
BE the change you’d like to see in the world. Thank you, Katherine.
I second everything she said. Bravo, I am in such awe of your eloquence and perseverance in in relating all of this to the world. I run my own music series now but 25 ish years ago was an active freelancer (flute) in Boston and am all too familiar with everything you write about. Keep up the good work Katherine. Save all this material, and write a book. We would ALL support you.
Thanks so much for sharing this. This story is an accumulation of aggressions rather than a single terrible assault. Accumulations can be much harder to explain.
It helped me to read your post! I think these more accumulated violations are likely a more prevalent occurrence for women than outright assault. They are also completely unacceptable treatment.
So I'll say this because too many men have said the opposite in some of your posts. I was a friend of his, more importantly, around the time of the proposition. When your allegations came out, I thought about it and yes, I concluded that he's capable of this. These details are so much worse. So sorry you have been going through this. Shame on the BSO. And what if any was the union's involvement?
Thank you for saying this. I realize that of course predators can often be quite good at disguising their behaviour to people they don't prey on, but at the end of the day, I also think that many people who conclude "X could never do that!" have in fact just done the laziest, most cursory possible assessment in order to avoid having to experience any discomfort themselves in the wake of someone else's assault/harassment/etc. Often, signs are there, though they might be subtle and understandably missed or misinterpreted initially.
Thank you for having the integrity to undertake a real evaluation of someone you considered a friend, and to speak the truth about it publicly.
I mean, he’s a very talented, charming man with the requisite poise to do a relatively public job like this. I could totally see someone in that position believe their good press and reputation, let it go to their head and eventually act brazenly. I’ve never saw him act like how Katherine describes above but it’s very plausible considering the scenario I just laid out.
Hi Katherine thanks for (bravely) putting voice to this all to frequent and familiar despicable action by some men. Is the EEOC complaint resolved or still ongoing?
Just… what… how… UGH! I’m so sorry you are going this. I’m so sorry for all the humans having to deal with this sort of abuse of power. Thank you for doing the work you do!
I was at the season-closer BSO concert last month. I remember at the end of Strauss' Four Last Songs Mr. Carney kissing the soprano Christine Goerke's hand...it seemed a bizarre thing to do in a professional setting and just gave me the ick. Reading the EEOC charge now puts more in perspective. I really hope Ms. Goerke wasn't traumatized by that interaction. We all know he wouldn't have kissed a male performer's hand!
Thank you so much for sharing. I would like to comment more, but everything I think to say doesn't seem to portray my feelings. I appreciate your openness in sharing.
One of the reasons I did not report a colleague who later became a boss for a hostile work environment is because it was a series of aggressive behaviors, rather than a single egregious incident. I had also witnessed two other colleagues all of a sudden getting poor performance reviews after reporting bad behavior. Now that l’m older and more confident, I would 100% report his behavior; but at the time, I wasn’t prepared to sacrifice my reputation and my job to watch him suffer no consequences. It is the only regret I have in my life.
So thank you for sharing this, and for standing up to this kind of bullying behavior, and going through everything you’re going through to fight for there to be consequences to these assholes.
Wow, I had heard of this, of course, but not in the detail you have here, and this really does paint the picture. I may contact you about sharing your FB post with a comment (my opinions) about how BSO management handled it. I am troubled by a (mgmt.) name that I know, and I do know a couple of musicians currently in your orchestra, but I’m sorry that you have had to pursue matters yourself with no institutional, and apparently little personal, collegial support.
I tolerated sexism in my workplaces partly because I didn't want to spend the energy to fight it, partly because I didn't want to be seen as a troublemaker, but mostly because I had no idea HOW to fight it. Your EEOC charge shows what sort of information to track and to document if possible. (In hindsight, keeping a copy of each of your complaints might have been helpful ... but who would think of that? You, probably).
I admire your ability to know what to track and document and your strength to persevere in reporting and pursuing this, despite the BSO, as an institution, failing to treat you with the respect you deserved.
I appreciate you helping me and others have a blueprint for not allowing our voices to be silenced. I hope I can be as courageous and selfless when the next opportunity arises in my life.
Thank you for your courage and ethical fortitude to bring this into the light. You're not only protecting the many women who have the misfortune of needing to work around such a creep but defending the art form itself.
My admiration for your courage and bravery continues to grow.
This charge paints a damning picture of your orchestra and the mismanagement of your harassment. Breaking orchestral cultural rules (ex: all the power shenanigans around the giving of the a), is REALLY difficult to explain outside of our very small, weird culture.
To me, it sounds as if your orchestra administrators were in thrall of his power, too.
In watching harassment in my own orchestra, I find there are periods of peace followed by BS followed by seeming peace followed by more BS……and so it continues…..it’s very cyclical.
I’ve often wondered how you find the energy to be such a badass advocate.
I think understand now? You are standing up with your big voice for the amazing Katherine Needleman that endured this egregious behaviour for so many years. Your advocacy is therapy? I love it. It’s like watching healing in civic action. May your brave actions bring you some measure of peace for all you have gone through.
BE the change you’d like to see in the world. Thank you, Katherine.
Thank you so much, Erin! This means a lot.
What Erin said. Especially this: May your brave actions bring you some measure of peace for all you have gone through.
BE the change you’d like to see in the world. Thank you, Katherine.
I second everything she said. Bravo, I am in such awe of your eloquence and perseverance in in relating all of this to the world. I run my own music series now but 25 ish years ago was an active freelancer (flute) in Boston and am all too familiar with everything you write about. Keep up the good work Katherine. Save all this material, and write a book. We would ALL support you.
write a book that becomes a screenplay and we would all love it! kudos and galaxies of support to you.
Thanks so much for sharing this. This story is an accumulation of aggressions rather than a single terrible assault. Accumulations can be much harder to explain.
Thanks so much for reading and subscribing! But more importantly, thanks for naming this. It helped me a lot to read it.
It helped me to read your post! I think these more accumulated violations are likely a more prevalent occurrence for women than outright assault. They are also completely unacceptable treatment.
So I'll say this because too many men have said the opposite in some of your posts. I was a friend of his, more importantly, around the time of the proposition. When your allegations came out, I thought about it and yes, I concluded that he's capable of this. These details are so much worse. So sorry you have been going through this. Shame on the BSO. And what if any was the union's involvement?
Thank you for saying this. I realize that of course predators can often be quite good at disguising their behaviour to people they don't prey on, but at the end of the day, I also think that many people who conclude "X could never do that!" have in fact just done the laziest, most cursory possible assessment in order to avoid having to experience any discomfort themselves in the wake of someone else's assault/harassment/etc. Often, signs are there, though they might be subtle and understandably missed or misinterpreted initially.
Thank you for having the integrity to undertake a real evaluation of someone you considered a friend, and to speak the truth about it publicly.
I mean, he’s a very talented, charming man with the requisite poise to do a relatively public job like this. I could totally see someone in that position believe their good press and reputation, let it go to their head and eventually act brazenly. I’ve never saw him act like how Katherine describes above but it’s very plausible considering the scenario I just laid out.
It's exhausting to read this. You had to live it!
Hi Katherine thanks for (bravely) putting voice to this all to frequent and familiar despicable action by some men. Is the EEOC complaint resolved or still ongoing?
Just… what… how… UGH! I’m so sorry you are going this. I’m so sorry for all the humans having to deal with this sort of abuse of power. Thank you for doing the work you do!
I was at the season-closer BSO concert last month. I remember at the end of Strauss' Four Last Songs Mr. Carney kissing the soprano Christine Goerke's hand...it seemed a bizarre thing to do in a professional setting and just gave me the ick. Reading the EEOC charge now puts more in perspective. I really hope Ms. Goerke wasn't traumatized by that interaction. We all know he wouldn't have kissed a male performer's hand!
Thank you so much for sharing. I would like to comment more, but everything I think to say doesn't seem to portray my feelings. I appreciate your openness in sharing.
Amazing level of detail and clarity. Thank you, Katherine. A great guidepost for the challenges in our industry.
Thank you, Laurie! ❤️
One of the reasons I did not report a colleague who later became a boss for a hostile work environment is because it was a series of aggressive behaviors, rather than a single egregious incident. I had also witnessed two other colleagues all of a sudden getting poor performance reviews after reporting bad behavior. Now that l’m older and more confident, I would 100% report his behavior; but at the time, I wasn’t prepared to sacrifice my reputation and my job to watch him suffer no consequences. It is the only regret I have in my life.
So thank you for sharing this, and for standing up to this kind of bullying behavior, and going through everything you’re going through to fight for there to be consequences to these assholes.
Wow, I had heard of this, of course, but not in the detail you have here, and this really does paint the picture. I may contact you about sharing your FB post with a comment (my opinions) about how BSO management handled it. I am troubled by a (mgmt.) name that I know, and I do know a couple of musicians currently in your orchestra, but I’m sorry that you have had to pursue matters yourself with no institutional, and apparently little personal, collegial support.
Thanks, John. Happy to speak further. You know my number!
I tolerated sexism in my workplaces partly because I didn't want to spend the energy to fight it, partly because I didn't want to be seen as a troublemaker, but mostly because I had no idea HOW to fight it. Your EEOC charge shows what sort of information to track and to document if possible. (In hindsight, keeping a copy of each of your complaints might have been helpful ... but who would think of that? You, probably).
I admire your ability to know what to track and document and your strength to persevere in reporting and pursuing this, despite the BSO, as an institution, failing to treat you with the respect you deserved.
I appreciate you helping me and others have a blueprint for not allowing our voices to be silenced. I hope I can be as courageous and selfless when the next opportunity arises in my life.
I read every word of the above document. Made my heart ache and my head explode.
Thank you for your courage and ethical fortitude to bring this into the light. You're not only protecting the many women who have the misfortune of needing to work around such a creep but defending the art form itself.