Boston Symphony Orchestra flautist files lawsuit over unequal pay

Rowe was hired for the Boston Symphony's top flutist job in 2004 a high-profile and extremely competitive position at one of the world's foremost orchestras. According to her suit, she has been profiled as a soloist with the orchestra 27 times in the years since she was hired more than any other BSO principal musician and that the orchestra has repeatedly highlighted her in its marketing, publicity and social media materials.Rowe says that she is currently the top-paid female principal player in the BSO, while the BSO's principal oboist, John Ferrillo, is the symphony's top-paid male principal musician. According to the BSO's 2016 IRS Form 990, Ferrillo was paid $286,621, the largest salary paid to any BSO principal musician. (Violinist Malcolm Lowe the orchestra's concertmaster, who serves as something of a liaison between the symphony's musicians and its conductor earned $415,402 in 2016.) The BSO's three other highest-paid musicians its principal trumpet, principal viola and timpanist are all male.