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Sentimental Work: Orin O’Brien on Stravinsky’s ballet Orpheus

2026-02-13T10:17:00

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Playing the score for Stravinsky’s ballet Orpheus was a formative experience for the American double bassist in the years before she joined the New York Philharmonic

Before I joined the New York Philharmonic in 1966, I played for ten years in the orchestra of the New York City Ballet (NYCB). The standard of playing there was phenomenally high: in 1954 Toscanini retired from the NBC Symphony and the National Broadcasting Company network disbanded the orchestra, which meant a lot of top musicians ended up in the NYCB. For me, it was my musical home for a full decade and it was a wonderful influence on me, which I never forgot…

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