Evelyn Barbirolli

Evelyn, Lady Barbirolli OBE (24 January 1911 – 25 January 2008) was an English oboist, and the wife of the eminent conductor Sir John Barbirolli.

She was born Evelyn Rothwell, and was known professionally by that name until after she was widowed, when she became known as Evelyn Barbirolli. She rose to fame at a time when there were very few women in orchestras except for harpists.

Evelyn Rothwell was born in Wallingford-on-Thames, Berkshire, the daughter of a tea dealer in the City of London. Her mother was related to Charles Reade, a novelist of the Victorian era. She did not take up the oboe until she was 17, when she started to learn at her school, Downe House, near Newbury, under the headship of Olive Willis. Her father was not supportive of her studying music, but her mother encouraged her to enter the Royal College of Music. She studied the oboe there with Léon Goossens. She also learned the piano as a second instrument, and played the cello and the timpani. Benjamin Britten, nearly three years younger, was also a student there and he got her to play through some of his compositions for oboe.

She started her professional career by deputising for Léon Goossens in the Drury Lane Orchestra. She was soon appointed second oboe with the Covent Garden touring company, which was conducted by John Barbirolli. Barbirolli was married, although the marriage was not to last. Barbirolli was then made conductor of the Scottish Orchestra (now the Royal Scottish National Orchestra).

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