Orin O'Brien
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Orin O'Brien (born 1935) is an American double bassist. She has been a member of the New York Philharmonic since joining in 1966 under the direction of Leonard Bernstein and was the first woman to join the orchestra in its history. She currently teaches at the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Mannes College The New School for Music.
She was born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California to actors George O'Brien and Marguerite Churchill and began her studies with Milton Kestenbaum, former principal bass of the NBC Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony under Fritz Reiner and with Herman Reinshagen, former principal and assistant-principal bass of the New York Philharmonic under Gustav Mahler and Arturo Toscanini at the University of California, Los Angeles. She continued her studies at the Juilliard School in New York City with Frederick Zimmermann.
Before joining the New York Philharmonic, O'Brien performed with the New York City Ballet, Metropolitan Opera, Saidenberg Little Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski where she played the double bass solo as principal bass in the American premiere of Alberto Ginastera's Variaciones Concertantes in 1962. She performed at the Marlboro Music Festival in the 1960s where she made recordings with Pablo Casals and gave the premiere of Gunther Schuller's Quartet for Double Basses which was later recorded with Robert Gladstone, Frederick Zimmermann, and Alvin Brehm. She has previously taught at YMHA, the Estherwood Summer Musical Festival, and the Institute de Haute Etudes Musicales in Montreux, Switerzerland.
