Mary Karen Woehr

On Monday, July 21, Mary Karen Woehr passed away quietly in her sleep at Sinai Hospital, Baltimore, from cancer. Mary was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1953 to parents Georgia Sagen Woehr and Christian George Woehr II, cellist and horn player/music librarian with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Growing up with her five siblings in a house essentially with its own chamber orchestra, her journey toward an orchestral life seemed pre-ordained. She studied with PSO violinist Albert Hirtz, PSO violist Michael Stolarevski, and PSO pianist Patricia Jennings, and in summers with Francis Tursi in Vermont, Bruno Giuranna in Italy, and Bernard Lindon at the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY. Mary followed Bernard Lindon to Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where in 1975 she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music performance. Mary’s parents, members of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, bought property there and built a house, setting a pattern of summer life for the family. The geodesic dome outside Chautauqua was kept in the family, and its management and upkeep became an important part of Mary’s life.

Mary’s professional career began with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, continuing on to the London (Ontario) Sinfonia, with a stint in the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. She also played with the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, the Dallas Ballet Orchestra, and the new music chamber group Voices of Change. In 1982 she won a position in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, a position she kept for some 41 years and through a number of music directors. Her favorite was probably David Zinman, with whom she kept in contact long after his departure from Baltimore. She also served as a staff pianist with the Orchestra. She was an experienced and valuable colleague to many.

Mary Woehr was an extremely active chamber music player as both violist and pianist. She had a special knack for aiding musicians prepping for solo engagements by accompanying them on piano and indicating where an orchestra might allow rhythmic variation for the soloist. (Among her musical collaborations in this role was young violinist Hilary Hahn). Mary was also a founding member of Turbine, a wind and piano trio (with available commercial recording).

Mary loved cats. Mary always seemed to have ones named after classical orchestral music publishers: Boosey and Hawkes, Schirmer and Kalmus. Mary is survived by her two brothers, Theodore Woehr and Christian Woehr III, and her three sisters Wendy Myers, Catherine Woehr, and Constance Woehr. Gifts may go to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or to the American Cancer Society.

Services are to be determined.