Violinist Eudice Shapiro, who paved the way for other female musicians.
“In 1942, Eudice Shapiro walked through the doors of a soundstage in Hollywood for a recording session with the RKO Studio Orchestra,” writes Deanna Gasparyan in Monday’s (4/24) University of Southern California News. “Her performance was exemplary, but its significance far exceeded the film music they recorded. That session reverberated with female musicians across the country. Shapiro was the concertmaster that day, or first chair—the first woman to ever be named to that position within the studio system. This prestigious appointment marked the start of Shapiro’s 23-year career in the Hollywood studio system, which included later positions with Paramount and United Artists. Her rise to prominence in the male-dominated industry would carve a path for future generations of female musicians … Shapiro, who died in 2007 at age 93, reached global audiences with her solos, chamber music performances and command of modern works. She established her career as a virtuoso soloist in postwar America, though she competed on an equal footing with her male counterparts. At the Curtis Institute of Music in the 1930s, she was the only female violin student in her class … She began teaching at USC Thornton in 1956—nearly two decades before Title IX prohibited sex discrimination at education institutions that receive federal funding.”
