Abbie Conant
This post is part of a series called Know This Brass Player which features famous brass players from all over the world.
Name: Abbie Conant
Instrument: Trombone
Location: USA/Germany
Significance: For the past 40 years, Abbie Conant has been a strong voice for the the world of music. For high school, she attended the Interlochen Arts Academy by way of scholarship. Once she graduated from Interlochen she went on to Temple University to study with M. Dee Stewart, at the time a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, now a professor at Indiana University. After she received her Bachelor’s degree from Temple, Ms. Conant continued her studies at Yale University and eventually completed her Master’s degree at the Juilliard School studying with Per Brevig of the Metropolitan Opera. In 1984, she went on to study with Branimar Slokar at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Köln.
From 1979 to 1980, Ms. Conant was the principal trombone of the Royal Opera of Turin. Then in 1980, she became Solo Trombonist with the Munich Philharmonic, a position she held until 1993. At the time, a woman in an orchestra was a rarity. For her audition, there was much surprise that a woman could beat out a man for a position, let alone the Solo Trombone position. Although the orchestra wanted to hire her, the new conductor did not want her in that position. After many legal battles, Ms. Conant was able to maintain her position with the orchestra which paved a way for future female musicians. If you would like to learn more about this story, click here.
Since then, she has been a soloist all over the world performing concertos with many orchestras as well as solo recitals. She recorded a critically acclaimed album featuring music for trombone and organ in addition to another solo album. While she has written music for the trombone and theater, her husband, William Osborne, has also written many compositions specifically for her. Currently, Ms. Conant is a highly sought after teacher and holds the tenured position of Professor of Trombone at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen, Germany.
Sources consulted for this article:
The Website of William Osborne and Abbie Conant
