Now, this was a sassy lady.
Born in 1922, Dwyer was your typical musical prodigy. Her mother Edith played flute and even toured with the Chicago's Women's Symphony, but marriage and 4 children eventually took priority. Starting at age 8, Doriot took flute lessons from her mother, and proved to be quite adept.
When it came time to audition for the first chair of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the company held open auditions. Dwyer played her audition for 3 full hours, challenging her judges to ask her to play anything from memory and she would comply. When asked if she would come back to audition after two weeks, Dwyer refused. Finally, the manager agreed Dwyer was best suited for the job, and offered her the position. Dwyer refused the initial salary negotiation. In response to her counter-offer, the manager said "That's a lot of money for a little girl" Dwyer replied "It's a big Job."
Fun Fact: Doriot's Father's Cousin was Women's Rights Activist Susan B. Anthony.
All Information was retained at the MENC Biennial Eastern Division Conference, but I'm pretty sure the presenter got all her information here.
I am proud to have Doriot in my family tree. I was born Marilyn Anthony and my dad, Al Anthony, was killed in an accident when I was just 2 years old. I am very musical and very few in my family enjoy classical music as much as I do. Discovering Doriot in a branch of our Anthony family tree, helped explain my passion.
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