Elizabeth Rowe.
In Thursday’s (4/4) Boston Globe, A.Z. Madonna writes, “For most of her career, Rowe hadn’t had a clear sense of what life outside the orchestra world might be like, because she had never needed one. She clinched the principal flute chair with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2004 at age 29, less than a decade after her graduation from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and subsequent ascension through a handful of American orchestras…. The Walter Piston chair was hers … for as long as she wanted it. In August, after Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 … at Tanglewood, Rowe, 49, will take her final bow with the orchestra … She’ll devote her days to her newly chosen career: leadership coaching…. Given the flutist’s profile and tenured position with the BSO, she knows her decision to leave the music world now is an unorthodox move…. She wasn’t pushed out … ‘I love my work as a musician. I love playing with the Boston Symphony,’ said Rowe, who lives in Boston with her husband, BSO violinist Glen Cherry…. Her track toward leadership coaching began with her own flute students at Tanglewood and New England Conservatory … Many [students asked] her questions about their lives and careers.”
