Orin O'Brien

Biography

Bassist Orin O'Brien has been a member of the New York Philharmonic since 1966, when Leonard Bernstein was the Music Director. Born in Hollywood of actor parents, she received her early musical training in Los Angeles. She studied with Milton Kestenbaum (principal bass of the Pittsburgh Symphony under Fritz Reiner and member of the NBC Symphony under Toscanini), Herman Reinshagen (for many years associate principal of the New York Philharmonic during the time of Mahler and Toscanini, and double bass teacher at the Institute of Musical Art, later to be Juilliard), and continued her studies in New York with Frederick Zimmermann, graduating as a scholarship student from the Juilliard School.

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