Horn professor is forcibly retired - Slippedisc (2024)

ReportTheTruth says:

There is no proof to your commentary or the statement from the university that he was forced to retire. There is so much more to this story that you are electing not to report on. How about you do some research about how this professor sexually abused students, mentally abused students, had affairs….the list goes on….

william osborne says:

Apparently the “revenge p*rn” images weren’t the issue, but a long pattern of what complainants say was abusive behavior that was sometimes also overtly sexualized–or so it seems from a flurry of reports on social media.

Margaret Koscielny says:

Horn players should watch out for “tooting their own horns.”

Honestly Speaking says:

Now WVM will have ample time (and a hefty pension) to sue the daylights out of Needleman – and perhaps Julie Landsman, since she is apparently rumored to have tipped off the hysterical harpy and her zombie tribe.

While Rice certainly has questions to answer re: what they knew and when did they know it when it comes to VM, it baffles me that Curtis employs a deranged lunatic to teach the next generation of great oboists. Though not many oboists from Curtis are currently winning jobs. I wonder why?

Lawsuit Ahead says:

BVM should sue Katherine Needleman, and others who knowingly propagated a lie, repeatedly, to their thousands of cult-like followers. Needleman, the worst offender has made multiple posts about this generating more than a thousand comments. She repeatedly insinuated and allowed via her platform that these were unsolicited pictures, which they are demonstrably not. Bill seems to have many detractors and has clearly not lived a life free of sin (who has?), but Needleman is no saint either, and she is certainly no hero. Her cult calls her “The Queen of Filth”. How fitting. She has aired out false information about many people, and with increasing reckless abandon. Now, finally comes something so outlandishly heinous from her, it may finally give her cause to think before speaking so convincingly on subjects of which she has little or no actual knowledge. Rumors don’t count. She writes that she doesn’t read this blog, but let’s hope that one of her 16,000 cult followers will read it to her. Norman, please post the lawsuit when it’s filed.

Ricardo says:

“Lawsuit Ahead”, “Oof”, “Honestly Speaking”… right…
Katherine Needleman probably has personal flaws (wow, amazing!) but, from my stand point she comes out as an essentially decent human being. She is pissing a lot of people off because she is exposing a whole mountain side of pigs who, thanks to their startling genius, have got away with disgusting behavior for ages. About time too, I say. No-one gets all the facts right. Ms Needleman has probably not gotten hers 100% right either. Sadly, however, the stories she tells and the ones that are told to her, sound tragically plausible. If you are hankering for character-assasinating someone (say, Ms Needleman) then you should read Everything she has put out. I cannot claim to have done so but have probably read 95% or her posts in the past three months or so and, as stated above, she comes through as a decent human being. And she has the guts of signing her posts with her own name. And she happens to be a world class oboist, which may piss off a number of people too.

La Boheme says:

“Retired” is exactly what at least 2 sexual predators in another specialty area – you know the one dominated by women which KN keeps interfering with – have done. Neither she or her cult seem to realize that other groups of women are already addressing these situations. Here’s one of the guys we took down: https://academic-sexual-misconduct-database.org/index.php/person/bradley-garner

He also “retired” but at least we got him out. There have been a no. of others.
But I guess KN wants to believe that she’s the only one on this. Because after all, flutists and violinists are just the “stewardesses” of the orchestra according to the KN cult. We don’t count.

Lara St. John, shame on you for agreeing with that sexist comment about violinists just being “stewardesses” in an orchestra. You’re a violinist yourself. Does that mean that what you do is less significant than, say, Alison Balsom? That comment is insulting & disrespectful. You’re a fine musician, but frankly, I don’t think you’re the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Clevelander says:

KN is no saint. But the fact that it takes her vitriol, brashness, and lack of civility to expose the disgusting lifestyle of many of these people is indicative of the deep-rooted, insidious nature of the problem in our industry. Be glad he is gone.

Slug says:

Anyone around him in the 1980’s knew that he preyed on any attractive female in a mile radius at NMC and other summer festivals. This wasn’t hearsay, this was first-hand viewing by so many, and was not limited to just casual flirtations. It was aggressive and unrelenting. Of course it was seen by some as cute (he was a good looking guy, even in corduroys), some were disgusted and tried their best to avoid him, and some saw his male machismo and rooted for him.

I have no idea who is accusing him at the moment or for what, but as soon as I saw the photo and the story heading, I immediately knew what the story would be about. There should be no lack of direct experiences availabe by people from several decades.

Guest 123 says:

First, Bill’s sexual proclivities are the worst kept secret. Even more than [redacted]. Anyone who has spent time with or near him can identify that’s he’s problematic, and depending on how the alleged recipients take the acts – could be illegal or problematic for employment.

I have second hand (heard from victim) knowledge of a female horn player who didn’t get into Rice so Bill offered her free lessons if she “watched his kids”. I think kids were a euphemism for his small horn. This is nothing new.

But. I think a lotta folks are conflating Revenge p*rn with sexual assault/unsolicited dick pics. People sharing Bill’s photos are the ones committing revenge p*rn, not Bill. Bill’s is an undisclosed problem (perhaps the recipients were students or colleagues) which can have employment consequences, unlikely legal, but what the feminist agitator (others phrase) Katherine “plays out of tune” (by my observation) Needleman did is committing the illegal act. KN might be flying too close to the sun. I expect her to face many lawsuits in her future.

I presume her fate will be related to the quote from The Dark Knight “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

Principal Pervert says:

“The Captain” is now “Captain Dick Pic”. Glad he finally got his comeuppance.

Tony Soprano says:

You can debate diversity all you want, but classical music is deeply tied to the white male patriarchy that so many on the left wish to dismantle. At least Needleman is honest – she wants to see many white men lose their status and be replaced in their roles by women and minorities. This is a power play, and her goal is to get more for herself and her sex. This is not to say white men are victims of systemic oppression, but her campaign less about helping victims of sexual misconduct and more about advancing the gender and race quota ideology.

There is talk of a lawsuit in these comments, but there are issues with any potential case. Needleman cleverly uses ‘quotes’ from private messages and adds very few explicit (no pun intended) details, allowing her commenters to do the heavy lifting. While it may seem like extreme rhetoric to us normal people, her feminist rants are not necessarily libelous, unless she makes a specific false allegation.

In the long run, it will be interesting to see if modern classical music survives long enough for Needleman to make any real progress before the white male population who funds it has moved on to UFC and Power Slap and left Mozart and Schubert in the wastebin.

Zoie says:

It’s not considered revenge p*rn if the people that were sent the images never gave consent. It’s sexual assault on his end. Tasteless journalism and a horrible representation of the situation… do better

william osborne says:

Interesting how the dickpics as “revenge” p*rn” are being used as a subterfuge to cover up a long history of allegations of the sexual abuse of students.

Guido de Arezzo says:

I admire what Ms KN has accomplished in such a short time.

She should keep on with her mission while toning it down a bit since much of the pageantry is detracting from her message. Also her frequency of communication ultimately dilutes her important message.

A few comments beyond what others have said below:

< Many players have been appointed to positions after rounds of auditions have been held with no clear winner. If KN has done the job well (since she is tenured it appears she has), she can claim her position as her own. Perhaps this is the audition system of the future for US orchestras. Players (after a cattle call audition) are invited to perform and the audition committee (along with the MD) pick from that vetted field.

< Many of these perps had teachers from the previous generations where this type of predatory behavior was part of the "mix". One can list many names from the Old School who viewed their studio as a harem rather than an Academy for learning.

< It takes years to develop a great studio. Curtis is an advantage due to its free tuition but there are some very good oboe instructors out there. Give her time and she may turn out some great players. The small student body at Curtis allows for many playing opportunities and the level is as good as many professional second tier orchestras. Getting a top job out of Curtis is not unusual.

< The Voice from the Wilderness (KN) had to be done by someone in an important position who has nothing to lose. It's obvious that students, new orchestra members, and young administrators have little power in this world. And it's easy to fall victim to those that know how to make it all work however slimy or even illegal.

< She needs to tone down her rhetoric a bit as she seems to be heading down two paths at the same time with one being more important now (sexual predation) than the other (percentage of women in the orchestra musician pool).

I admire KN's courage and desire to reform an antiquated industry. She just has to make sure this doesn't turn into a Dog and Pony show (aka her NYC appearance with Ms St John) which ultimately will dilute her important work.

WhotheheckisHaroldImnothim says:

The defense of retaining the services of WVM for so long at Rice is that however heinous his behavior and methods, his students (the ones he didn’t ruin psychologically) have had phenomenal success. I understand that one approach to teaching is to strengthen the student’s backbone and resolve. You’re unquestionably going to need it. You can do this in a supportive way or “test” them in ways that pushes the envelope towards abuse in youngsters, many of whom are unable to copy with this. I personally don’t think the collateral damage is worth the risk of the latter. The tide has turned against this, and even without D-pics making the rounds, the writing should be on the wall for those who teach this way. WVM has never given a damn about anyone he’s “above” in station. Colleagues are more likely to defend him because he treats a FEW of them with respect. But if you are not an “equal” to him he will treat you like crap every time. This includes quite a few Houston Symphony colleagues, most of which can’t stand him. I personally think he shouldn’t be allowed within 100 miles of students….he’s a toxic abuser and groomer. I guess the students who could stand this environment and have jobs and a solid technique would disagree. That’s not good enough. However, even if KN picked a worthy target through shady means THIS time, she’s also trying to ruin others whom she MAY be on target about, but she doesn’t really care if she’s accurate about quite a number of them as long as her choir is preached to and kept at frenzied levels of hate towards the male race.

Twink says:

Regardless of his past behavior, KN is completely out of line. I hope he sues her and wins. She has no right sending his pictures around. She’s just as bad.

NotTakingItAnymore says:

I didn’t even need to check that this article was written by a man. “Revenge p*rn”? “Feminist activist”? Come on SlippedDisc, pull yourself out of the 1950’s.