Anna Petersen: Oboe Player and Educator and Founder of Passionflower Yoga

I find my colleague Anna Petersen is such an inspiring person both as an incredible musician in her role as an oboe and English horn player and teacher, and as founder of Passionflower Yoga. In this conversation, we talk about life’s challenges as a performer and the dangers of perfectionism and the importance of self-compassion, and how her experience as a yoga practitioner and teacher have supported her both physically, psychologically and spiritually. Anna’s positivity really comes through in her beautiful playing, which you’ll get a taste of at the beginning of the episode, and in the way she has navigated some difficult life circumstances. Timestamps are included below in the description for the many topics that we touched on during this conversation. All these episodes are available in both video and podcast format and the transcript will soon be published to my podcast website leahroseman.com: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/anna-petersen-oboe-player-and-educator-founder-of-passionflower-yoga

The performance of the Mozart Oboe quintet is used both with permission of Chamberfest and violinist Yosuke Kawasaki, violist Paul Casey and cellist Rachel Mercer (followers of this series will recognize several musicians!).

Anna Petersen joined Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) as Second Oboe and English horn in 2013. She has performed orchestral and chamber concerts throughout Canada and the United States and internationally in China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and throughout Europe. Prior to joining NACO, she held positions as Principal Oboe of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and as B-contract Second Oboe of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She has enjoyed guest appearances as Principal Oboe with the Pittsburgh, Detroit and Wichita Symphony Orchestras, The Florida Orchestra, the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2013. She has also recently performed with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in Auckland, New Zealand. Anna earned her Bachelor of Music Degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. Her primary teachers include Richard Killmer and Suzanne Geoffrey. In addition to her musical life, Anna is also an internationally certified yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance, having completed 300 hours of training in Bali, Indonesia. Her yoga website: https://passionfloweryoga.ca/

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Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Introduction (00:01:27) Mozart Oboe quartet 3rd movement

(00:06:03) Interview starts, with oboe demo Peter and the Wolf Prokofiev

(00:07:05) English horn demo and discussion, breathing technique

(00:09:38) Anna's musical history, Richard Killmer

(00:11:42) Reed making

(00:17:25) some oboe history

(00:20:41) more about Richard Killmer

(00:21:48) Anna's childhood and starting music

(00:24:05) studies at Eastman

(00:25:31) first job with Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra

(00:27:24) Auditions, self-compassion, growth mindset

(00:32:18) teaching music, singing

(00:34:55) Yoga, teacher training in Bali, gaining perspective

(00:38:39) Anna's pre-playing routines

(00:40:49) posture, body awareness

(00:42:42) founding Passionflower Yoga

(00:45:24) the loss of Marjorie

(00:47:55) Syracuse Symphony and bankruptcy of the orchestra

(00:50:10) path to joining the National Arts Centre Orchestra

(00:51:13) pandemic shut-downs and first rehearsals

(00:54:09) experiences in differ