At age 15, she qualified for the Illinois All-State Orchestra, and during her senior year in high school she won the national solo competition to attend the Interlochen Center for the Arts.
Dwyer submitted her application, specifically applying as "Miss" Doriot Anthony, so there would be no confusion over her gender-neutral first name.
After a grueling competition, the other female flutist was dismissed and Munch asked Dwyer to return for a second audition, to which she replied, "No!"
[7] The BSO announced her hiring with a press release that described her as "young, with a dimpled chin, careful coiffure, smallish stature, and an absence of the Domineering Female suggestion".
[8] The Boston Globe called October 18, 1952 "Ladies’ Day" since the performance also featured French pianist Lélia Gousseau.
Warren Storey Smith's review noted that Dwyer "handled her part in the Bach’s charming Suite deftly and musically and in the final Badinerie with a degree of virtuosity that elicited from her fellow-players something midway between a gasp of astonishment and a shout of approval, while the audience expressed its appreciation in no uncertain terms.
Dwyer herself felt similarly, stating in a 1952 Boston Globe article, "Gradually, during my life, I've got used to the idea that I'm a woman.
[5] During her 38 years with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, she won critical acclaim for performances under such famed conductors as Charles Munch, Erich Leinsdorf, William Steinberg, Seiji Ozawa, and guest conductors Georg Solti, Pierre Boulez, Leonard Bernstein and Klaus Tennstedt.
[13] The caption below a photo of her in the Boston Globe said: "Doriot Anthony Dwyer, a living legend of flute playing.
She had moved there from Brookline in 2015 to be close to her daughter, Arienne Dwyer, a linguistic anthropologist at the University of Kansas.