Three New Musicians To Join Boston Symphony Orchestra for 2024–25 Season

The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Andris Nelsons have announced the appointment of Lorna McGhee as the orchestra's new principal flute, starting with the opening of the 2024–25 season in September.

A native of Largs, Scotland, McGhee will occupy the Walter Piston chair, endowed in perpetuity, succeeding Elizabeth Rowe, who is stepping down at the conclusion of the Tanglewood season after 20 years with the BSO. In addition to leading the BSO's flute section at Symphony Hall, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, and on tour, McGhee will join other first-chair string and wind players to become a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. She will be the eighth principal flute in the BSO's history, a chair held by the late Doriot Anthony Dwyer who was named the orchestra's first female principal player in 1952. 

The BSO also announces that it has appointed Josh Baker as its new associate principal bassoon (and principal bassoon of the Boston Pops) and Toby Grace as a new member of the percussion section. Both Baker, who joins after five years with the Florida Orchestra, and Grace were Fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO's prestigious summer program that has trained emerging orchestral talent from around the world since its founding by Serge Koussevitzky in 1940. 

All three of the newly appointed players will first perform with the BSO during the Opening Weekend concerts at Symphony Hall (Sept. 19–21), which will include a fundraising gala celebrating Andris Nelsons' tenth anniversary season and a world premiere by Composer Chair Carlos Simon, a Boston Pops Cirque de Symphonie performance conducted by Keith Lockhart, and a free Concert for the City jointly led by Nelsons, Lockhart, and Thomas Wilkins and featuring guest artists from the community. 

“I am very pleased to welcome Lorna McGhee as the Boston Symphony Orchestra's new principal flute. Lorna brings a wealth of experience and incredible artistry to this pivotal role. I am also happy to appoint Josh Baker as associate principal bassoonist and Toby Grace as a new percussionist, both of whom studied as Fellows at our wonderful Tanglewood Music Center. I look forward very much to making beautiful music with all three of these very talented musicians this fall, as I begin my eleventh season as Music Director of this extraordinary orchestra.” said BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons.

BSO President and CEO Chad Smith: says of the new additions, "Our extraordinary musicians are at the center of our organization. They define the BSO and our work. We are thrilled to welcome Lorna McGhee, Josh Baker, and Toby Grace to the orchestra and look forward to getting to know them as players and colleagues. It is especially gratifying that the Tanglewood Music Center continues to play such an important role in the development of the next generation of orchestral talent."

About the Artists

Lorna McGhee grew up in Largs, Scotland, and has been the principal flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony since 2012, during which she recorded symphonies of Beethoven, Bruckner, Brahms, Dvořák, and Tchaikovsky, as well as the PSO's Grammy Award-winning Shostakovich Symphony No. 5. She has performed as guest principal with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, and Chamber Orchestra of Europe, among others. Before emigrating to North America, McGhee was co-principal flute of London's BBC Symphony Orchestra. 

As a concerto soloist, McGhee has appeared with orchestras in Japan, Taiwan, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. with such groups as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. As winner of the Shell/LSO Scholarship, she performed the Ibert Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Center in London and in a gala concert in Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall. Other career highlights include performances of Penderecki's Flute Concerto under the baton of the composer, Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2 with both Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Nicholas McGegan, Saariaho's concerto Aile du songe with Osmo Vänskä, and Mozart's G major concerto with Manfred Honeck. During the 2024–25 season, she returns to the Pittsburgh Symphony as soloist in Rautavaara's Flute Concerto Dances with the Winds with conductor Donald Runnicles. 

A native of Boise, Idaho, Josh Baker has been principal bassoonist of the Florida Orchestra since 2018. Prior to Florida, he served three years as principal for the Charleston Symphony in South Carolina. 

A 2013 Tanglewood Music Center Fellow and a 2014 graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, Baker studied under BSO bassoonists Richard Ranti, who retired as associate principal at the end of the 2022–23 season, and principal Richard Svoboda.  

A native of Austin, Texas, percussionist Toby Grace has been a frequent guest performer of the Kansas City Symphony and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, and Tulsa Symphony.  

He received his bachelor's degree from the Juilliard School, where he was a student of the New York Philharmonic's Daniel Druckman and a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. He also studied with former Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal percussionist Ted Atkatz at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he earned his master's degree. Grace was a Fellow of the BSO's Tanglewood Music Center for two summers. 

How to Purchase Tickets 

Subscriptions to the 2024–25 BSO season are now available to purchase by calling 888-266-1200 or visiting bso.org; single tickets go on sale July 25 at 10 a.m. 

About the BSO 

Led by Music Director Andris Nelsons since 2014, the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave its inaugural concert in 1881 and opened Symphony Hall—widely acclaimed as one of the greatest concert halls in the world—in 1900. Today, the BSO reaches millions of listeners through not only its concert performances in Boston and at Tanglewood—the orchestra's summer home in Lenox and Stockbridge, Mass.—but also via educational and community programs, radio, television, recordings, and tours. More information about the BSO and Andris Nelsons may be found at bso.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.