Trumpet Trailblazer

By Joule Zelman

Are some musical instruments considered more “feminine” than others? As irrational as the question might seem, multiple studies have found that listeners do indeed have gendered associations for different instruments, with the trumpet apparently thought of as a “masculine” component of the orchestra. These stereotypes have real-world consequences for classical musicians: the general underrepresentation of women in orchestras is even more pronounced in more traditionally male-dominated sections such as brass. 

But Tine Thing Helseth, one of the world’s premier trumpet virtuosos, belongs to a new generation of classical brass players — one she hopes will see gender parity in this lifetime. Gender stereotypes notwithstanding, the Oslo-based Helseth — who has played as a soloist with the Wiener Symphoniker, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore, Cincinnati, Melbourne, Shanghai, and Tokyo symphony orchestras among others — has said that the trumpet always felt natural to her. She attributes her initial interest in the instrument to her mother, who played it in an amateur wind band.  

During Helseth’s two-decade international career, launched when she won the Talent Prize in Norway in 2004 and second place in the Eurovision Young Musicians Competition in 2006, she has witnessed the gender imbalance in brass sections changing for the better. “There are more and more girls playing,” she said in a recent phone interview. “In a lot of places, there are more girls studying the trumpet now than boys.”  

The first professional musician in her family, Helseth quickly began winning praise not only for her effortless, expressive style but for her repertoire, which encompasses the works of many contemporary classical composers as well as rock and jazz music. She has worked with orchestras and chamber groups around the world, released numerous albums and programmed music festivals. 

Seattleites will have the chance to experience Helseth’s intimate, emotional style for themselves this October when she performs two trumpet concertos with the Seattle Symphony: Franz Joseph Haydn’s cherished 1796 piece and Danish maven Bent Sørenson’s 2013 work in its U.S. premiere.  

Helseth shared that while she often played Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto at the beginning of her career, it’s been out of rotation for a while. “Visiting Haydn again gets a bit more special when I don't do it so often,” she said.  

More than 10 years ago, at Helseth’s request, Sørenson wrote his own spirited, propulsive Trumpet Concerto especially for Helseth to perform along with the Haydn classic. Helseth praises the contemporary Danish composer’s unusual instrumentation, which explores the sensitive and lyrical possibilities of the trumpet outside the common loud, fast, fanfare style for which it is often used. The rest of the orchestra echoes the trumpet’s playfulness. Helseth particularly loves the concerto’s “quite magical” second movement, during which the musicians are instructed to hum. Sørenson “has his own language that you hear very clearly,” she explained. This special quality is what moved her to ask him to write the piece.  

Helseth’s propensity for prolific collaboration outside of her work as a concerto musician and soloist may be another reason for her cross-genre appeal. The Tine Thing Helseth Quintet specializes in jazz and tango, and she has also branched out as a singer-songwriter. But one of her long-term projects in particular is a potent argument against brass instruments’ supposed inherent masculinity.  

In 2007, Helseth founded an all-women 10-piece brass ensemble called tenThing. She brings this group to Seattle Symphony on February 27, 2025, to perform selections from its broad repertoire. In a nod to the group’s down-to-earth vibe, she has described it as “a fun and exciting collaboration between musical friends.”  

In the past, she sometimes downplayed the feminist implications of the ensemble’s composition. With tenThing’s most recent album, however — 2024’s She Composes Like a Man — Helseth and her fellow brassmates set out to showcase the talents of women composers, from well-known members of the canon like Clara Schumann and Lili Boulanger to modern voices like Joy Webb and Sally Beamish. The title comes from a well-meaning critic praising the work of composer and suffragist Ethel Smyth, whose music also features on the album.  

When asked about whether she and tenThing have encouraged more women to explore orchestral sections long dominated by men, Helseth, with some modesty, spoke of a wider movement toward equality in classical music. But she acknowledged that musicians like her and her colleagues may have a role in showing that your gender does not have to restrict your choice of instrument: “It's bigger than me … but I was given that voice, to be able to travel and do what I do,” she said. Studying an instrument “doesn't have to be something that has to do with your gender: you can choose. And there is no reason that you can't want to play the trumpet or the tuba just because you're a girl.”   

In the communal experience of live music, gendered stereotypes and misconceptions will fall into irrelevance — if we let them. And musicians like Tine Thing Helseth are building exciting relationships with audiences by championing new music, highlighting undervalued composers of the past and refreshing the most iconic pieces of the classical canon. Above all, Helseth expresses gratitude for her “strange job” as a musician. Connecting with concertgoers is “a big part of [her] identity.” As she put it, “I really hope that the audience knows the experience is not the same without them. That’s something I try to remind people: You are essential for this thing. You make all the difference in the concert.”  

Tine Thing Helseth’s performances are generously sponsored by Stephen and Rebecca Whyte.