“A one-of-a-kind oboe belonging to a musician with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was reportedly stolen outside a Montreal hotel Tuesday morning,” writes Chris Kaltenbach in Sunday’s (8/24) Baltimore Sun. The oboe belongs to Katherine Needleman, the orchestra’s principal oboist. “Needleman said the oboe was a prototype, made by Yamaha while she was working with the company in developing a new model. It is most likely the only one of its kind, she said, and does not contain a serial number. Needleman says she’s had the oboe for about seven years.… She and her family were checking out of their Montreal hotel Tuesday morning when the oboe was stolen, she said…. Curiously, an oboe belonging to a New York musician was reported stolen last month in Montreal as well. Ron Cohen Mann, who was in Montreal playing with the Orchestre de la Francophonie, said his oboe was stolen just three blocks from where Needleman’s went missing…. The fact that [Needleman’s oboe] doesn’t have a serial number would make it hard to sell. … Needleman said she was offering a $1,000 reward for the return of her oboe. Anyone with information can contact the Montreal police at 514-393-1133.”
Posted August 27, 2014
