Howarth Artists
Please see below a selection of professionals around the world who play on our instruments.
Alaster Bentley, former Principal Oboe of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia – Orchestra to Birmingham Royal Ballet, was born in London in 1957 and started piano lessons at the age of four. Encouraged by his parents, he took up the oboe after hearing the great English oboist Leon Goossens at the age of 11. He studied at the Central Tutorial School for Young Musicians (now the Purcell School), studying with oboist Edwin Roxburgh and the London Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Oboe, Barry Davies.
In 1974 Alaster became an Associate of the Royal College of Music, entering the same institution that year, to study with Sydney ‘Jock’ Sutcliffe. Whilst a student, he won first prize at the International Summer School, Canterbury. This lead directly to post-graduate studies in Paris with Maurice Bourgue. Alaster also took part in a master class with Heinz Holliger.
After freelancing, Alaster was offered the post of Principal Oboe with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, a post he held for over 40 years. He has performed in concerts with the orchestra, with Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet, as well as with many visiting ballet companies, including the Australian Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet, New York City Ballet, and the Kirov and Bolshoi companies. He has also performed on the orchestras many recordings of ballet music and British light music.
As a teacher, Alaster has held positions with Berkshire Education Authority, Stowe School, Oxford High School for Girls and given master classes at Birmingham Conservatoire.
Arnaldo de Felice is a foremost Italian oboist and composer, born in Florence. In 1984 he became principal oboist of the Symphony Orchestra “Arturo Toscanini” in Parma, Italy. He obtained his Diploma with highest mention from the Conservatory “G.B. Martini” in Bologna in 1986, after which he continued his studies with Lothar Koch at the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg. After November 1986, he held teaching positions at several Italian Music Conservatories. Since 1989 Arnaldo de Felice has been Professor of Oboe at the Music Conservatory “C. Monteverdi” in Bolzano.
Ben has received many awards, including the Birr Lions Club Bursary at the Birr Festival of Music in 2018 and the Trench Award in 2020. He was a finalist in the prestigious Irish Freemason’s Young Musician of the Year 2019 and was awarded the Conrad O’Sullivan Award for the highest place woodwind and the overall third prize.
As an Orchestral Musician, Ben has performed with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and Irish Chamber Orchestra. He has performed in many prominent venues such as Carnegie Hall, Ulster Hall, National Theatre of São Carlos, Prince Edward Theatre in London’s West End, Muzikebouw, Bernard Haitinkzaal, and National Concert Hall of Ireland. Recent appearances include the Birr Festival of Music and Clandeboye Festival 2022.
Ben made his Carnegie Hall debut performing the Marcello Oboe Concerto in May 2017. Ben completed his Bachelor in Performance with First Class Honours and a Licentiate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 2021 studying with Ruby Ashley. He is currently pursuing his Master in Music Performance at Conservatorium Van Amsterdam studying with Aisling Casey, Miriam Pastor Burgos and Ernest Rombout.
Celeste Johnson is currently Associate Professor of Oboe at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, and active as a performer, pedagogue, clinician and presenter. Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and pedagogue, Celeste balances an active performing career with a passion for teaching the next generation of oboists and musicians.
Celeste maintains an active performance calendar within the region, country and abroad. A regular substitute with the Kansas City Symphony, she also performs with Summerfest, a chamber music festival based in Kansas City. Celeste has performed as a featured soloist with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, of which she was a member for eleven seasons. While a member of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, she was featured as English horn soloist on Sibelius’ Swan of Tuonela and Copland’s Quiet City. Her recent recording, entitled KaleidosCoping, features 21st century compositions for flute, oboe and piano. KaleidosCoping was released in 2019 on the Equilibrium label. Her second album, Wider Than the Sky, features compositions by women composers and is scheduled to be released in 2021. As a performer, Celeste has presented concerts in Japan, Colombia, Switzerland, the Isle of Man (British Isles), Canada and across the United States
Professor Johnson has performed in orchestras, festivals and as a soloist at national and international venues. She performed as Principal Oboe with the New York String Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, Russian String Orchestra, Sarasota Opera, Tulsa Opera Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Binghamton Philharmonic and Quad Cities Symphony. She has worked with oboists across the globe as the recipient of fellowships to a number of music festivals and programs. She has received fellowships to attend the Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, and Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland. She has also performed at the Sarasota Music Festival, Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Pine Mountain Music Festival, and at the Banff Centre masterclasses in Alberta, Canada. A two-time prize-winner in the Gillet/Fox International Oboe Competition, Celeste was also a prize-winner in the Barbirolli International Oboe competition and won the University of Illinois Concerto Competition.
As a teacher, Celeste has taught for various camps, festivals and at universities across the country. She has served as a faculty member at the Bay View Music Festival and the Filarmonica Joven de Colombia in South America. Celeste has taught numerous masterclasses at high schools and universities across the country, in addition to hosting and teaching at a variety of camps for high school and collegiate oboists. Prior to moving to Kansas City, she taught at Oklahoma State University, the University of Kansas and Roberts Wesleyan College.
Celeste maintains active memberships in professional organizations, and as such has presented at the International Double Reed Society, Midwest Double Reed Society as well as the Texas and Oklahoma Music Educators Association conferences. She has recently been named chair of the Norma Hooks Young Artist Competition, hosted by the International Double Reed Society bi-annually. She has presented double reed clinics at the Texas and Oklahoma Music Educators Association conferences, presenting on the topic of double reed fundamentals and pedagogy for K-12 teachers, directors and performers.
Ms. Johnson holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her primary teachers include Richard Killmer, Nancy Ambrose King, Dan Stolper and Phil Koch.
An Associate of the Royal Academy of Music since 1997, Celia Craig was awarded Exhibitions, Craxton Chamber Music Prize, Advanced and Licentiate Diploma by the UK’s oldest music conservatoire.
Trained by renowned Hungarian educator, Bela de Csillery (pupil of Kodaly and Hindemith), Scholar at The Purcell School and winner of Music for Youth national Oboe Prize, Celia was personally invited by the London Symphony Orchestra to the 1990 Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo for tuition with Leonard Bernstein.
Resident Artist for National Trust of South Australia, Celia now produces chamber concerts in exquisite venues and bespoke concerts to order for private commissioners using a network of elite local musicians. She is a Business SA Encore Entrepreneur.
Celia is a visiting Lecturer in Oboe at the Australian National University in Canberra. Her primary education program for Musica Viva in Schools, ‘Colours of Home’ with electric guitarist Caspar Hawksley, exploring emotions through improvisation, tours to primary schools nationally, inspired by her lifetime experience of synesthesia (involuntary mixing of colour and sound).
In 2022 Celia gave Australian premieres of Oboe Concerti by Jennifer Higdon (US) and Connor Fogarty (Aus), a newly commissioned Trio by Joe Chindamo, and founded a unique concert series. Exclusive Musical Soirees are the premium offering at the new North Adelaide Baroque Hall with her Tarrawatta Trio featuring pianist Michael Ierace and cellist Thomas Marlin.
As an elite orchestral player Celia toured to five continents, was elected Chairman of London’s BBC Symphony Orchestra working with artists such as Adams, Boulez, Berio, Haitink, Sir Andrew Davis, and recording at Abbey Road Studios with London Symphony Orchestra.
Principal guest at Sydney Symphony, Australian Opera, Melbourne Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, Celia was Principal Oboe of Adelaide Symphony Orchestra 2011- 2018. Master of HM The Kings Music, Judith Weir CBE dedicated her Oboe Concerto in 2018, co-commissioned by Adelaide, Tasmanian and West Australian Symphony Orchestras.
Celia has coached emerging elite soloists at TALIS Festival in Sarajevo and at South America’s largest youth music festival, Campos de Jordao, Sao Paolo, 2019.
She adjudicated for BBC Young Musician, 5MBSFM Young Virtuoso Award, Gillet/Fox International Oboe Competition in Tokyo, lectured at various conservatoriums including Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, Singapore, Royal College of Music, London, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and taught oboe at Seymour College, Saint Peters School, Sydney Grammar School, Sherborne School, Dorset.
In 2020, Arts South Australia awarded Celia a prestigious Fellowship ‘Exploring New Artistic Directions’ mentored by Anthony Steel AO, former Director of Adelaide Festival.
A Howarth of London Artist, Celia is also a global Ambassador for Kyron Audio, creators of the world’s finest home music systems.
As Creative Director of Artaria, recording chamber music in South Australia, Celia won the Arts Award 2020 for Women in Innovation in South Australia and will release two new recordings in 2023, including Boccherini chamber music with acclaimed musicians led by flautist Sally Walker.
In 2023 Celia performs with virtuoso organist Thomas Trotter in UK and Australia, is featured as soloist with Thai Philharmonic Orchestra premiering a new Concerto by Narong Prangcharoen and presents new works by Anne Cawrse and Katia Beaugais.
Celia Nicklin is Professor of Oboe at The Royal Academy of Music. If you’ve ever watched the film Amadeus, you will have heard Celia playing the oboe with the Academy of St Martin in the Field.
During the years before joining the Academy of St Martin in the Field, Celia was principal oboe with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and a student at the Royal Academy of Music.
On her return from a year in Germany, she was offered the principal oboe position with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. After a couple of years with that orchestra she moved to London, where she was, for more than 35 years, the principal oboe with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the London Mozart Players, as well as playing with most of the prominent British symphony orchestras.
She also played in backing bands with the Beatles and many of the most successful UK pop groups.
Celia has played for hundreds of recordings, both as soloist & orchestral member, in particular with the Academy of St Martins and the Mozart Players, and has worked with most of the world’s great soloists.
Currently, she holds a prominent role in the oboe department at the Academy, as well as teaching and examining across Europe and the USA. She is also often a judge on the panels of international music competitions. She is a dedicated teacher and has taught many students who have gone on to become distinguished oboists, either as principals in orchestras throughout the world, or as teachers.
Chananat Meenanan is principal oboist in the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Blake was born in Brisbane, Australia, and started playing the oboe when he was 11 while living in Scotland. Three years later he won a scholarship to study oboe at Douglas Academy Music School with Philip Hill (Principal oboe with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra). When he was 15, he won the Scottish and Northern Ireland woodwind final for the BBC competition, Young Musician of the Year.
Between 1984-88 Christopher Blake held a scholarship to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with the oboist David Theodore (Principal of the London Philharmonic). During this time he gained valuable experience playing Principal Oboe with the Young Musicians’ Symphony Orchestra – he was soloist while on tour to Italy.
In 1988, Christopher Blake began his professional career, working with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. At this time he auditioned for Principal Oboe of the Ulster Orchestra and was appointed a few months later. It was through the Orchestra that he met his future wife Claire, one of the Orchestra’s first violins. Christopher and Claire now have two children, Anna aged 16 and Alex aged 12 .
Christopher’s concerto performances with the Ulster Orchestra include the Richard Strauss Concerto with Vernon Handley, the Mozart and Strauss concertos conducted by Carlos Colmar and recently the Vaughan Williams concerto conducted by James Macmillan. He’s also performed the Bach Double Concerto with ex-leader’s Lesley Hatfield and David Adams and more recently with the Ulster Orchestra’s current leader, Tamas Kocsis. Christopher also loves playing chamber music and has played in various groups within the Orchestra including wind octets, quintets, and for the last two years has appeared with the Orion Duo and Praeger Oboe Quartet.
Christopher has played guest Principal oboe with many of the UK’s Orchestra’s including BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, The Halle, The Scottish Chamber and the Philharmonia in August 2011.
Christopher O’Neal has been established as a leading freelance Principal Oboe for over 25 years. He currently holds Principal Oboe positions in the Orchestra of St Johns, the London Mozart Players and the New Queens Hall Orchestra. Previous positions have included the Mercury Ensemble of Ballet Rambert, Kent Opera under Roger Norrington and Ivan Fischer, and the English Sinfonia with whom he recorded Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Sir Charles Groves. He now appears as guest Principal Oboe in symphony and chamber orchestras all over the country and with many other smaller ensembles such as Endymion, the Composers Ensemble and the Albion Ensemble.
He played in the National Youth Orchestra for two years, and studied at the Royal College of Music with Terence MacDonagh. He then won Countess of Munster, Vaughan Williams Trust and Martin Musical Scholarships to continue his studies in London and in Germany with Heinz Holliger. Chris is well known for his expertise in the performance of contemporary and experimental music, and has been oboist in the ground-breaking ensemble Capricorn since 1977. He now plays in the internationally renowned ensemble The Fibonacci Sequence, with whom he is shortly to make a CD of oboe chamber music. He has performed and broadcast as a soloist since 1976, being described by Paul Griffiths in the Financial Times as “an outstanding musician, one who seems to exist within his instrument, rapt in concentration” at his Purcell Room debut recital.
“While studying the oboe at the RCM, Christine discovered an affinity with the cor anglais which informed her lifelong career. With the encouragement of her professor, Michael Winfield, she began to freelance with the London orchestras while still a student.
In 1980, she was invited to become the Principal Cor Anglais player of the Philharmonia Orchestra, a position she held for five years until she moved to the London Symphony Orchestra in the same capacity. At that time, she was one of only a handful of women in the LSO, (a situation now happily rectified), and in 1986 became the first woman to be elected by the players to the Board of Directors, fulfilling a three year term.
During Christine’s many years as a member of the LSO, she played for some of the world’s greatest conductors and recorded most of the major orchestral solos. In 1996, she gave the first performance of ‘The World’s Ransoming’ a concertante work written for her and the LSO by James MacMillan. After many further performances, she recorded the work with Sir Colin Davis and the LSO for LSO Live.
Christine has taught at the RCM for some years. After retiring from the LSO in June 2022, she now devotes her time to introducing oboe students to the joys of playing the cor anglais.”
Since the late 1970s, Christopher Redgate has specialised in the performance of contemporary oboe music. He has been described as having ‘extraordinary exploratory technical brilliance’ (Music Web) and of being a ‘tireless champion’ of extended techniques (Double Reed Magazine). This specialisation has inspired many composers to write for him including Michael Finnissy, Roger Redgate, Christopher Fox, James Clarke, Paul Archbold, Michael Young, Fabrice Fitch, Joe Cutler, David Gorton and Diana Burrell. New works are in progress from Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Finnissy, Edwin Roxburgh, Sam Hayden, Richard Barrett and Fabrice Fitch.
His performing career has taken him all over the world as a soloist, or in ensembles; he has performed in most European countries, Scandinavia, Australia, America, Canada, Mexico and China. He has worked with many ensembles including Ensemble Exposé, Suoraan, Trio Krosta, Kreutzer Quartet, Arditti Quartet, Firebird Ensemble, Music Projects/London, Lontano, Ensemble Modern, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Ixion, Apartment House, Topologies, London Sinfonietta and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio Three and has recorded several solo CDs.
He has been active as a teacher both of oboe and in workshops for composers. From 1986–92 he was professor of oboe at the International New Music Course in Darmstadt. Recent teaching events have included oboe classes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, Birmingham Conservatoire, The Royal Welsh College of Music and Kingston University. Composition workshops (writing for oboe) have been presented at Kings College London, Huddersfield University, Goldsmith’s College, Kingston University, and Birmingham Conservatoire and in workshops run by the SPNM and the BMIC.
Chris studied at Chethams’ School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. During his time at the Royal Academy of Music he won several prizes. A number of prizes in international competitions marked the beginning of his professional performing career.
Daniel Fuster
Professor at Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu in Barcelona, ESMAR ( Escuela Superior de Música de Alto Rendimiento ),Valencia , Trío Ditiramb
Daniel Fuster began his oboe studies at the age of 9 with Luis Grau, at the Paiporta School of Music and Interpretation. Later, he continued at the Joaquín Rodrigo Superior Conservatory of Music in Valencia, where he studied with professors Jesús Fuster and Francisco Salanova, obtaining the Extraordinary Prizes at the end of Elementary and Intermediate Grade and the Honorable Mention at the End of Degree Award.
Between 1999 and 2001 he taught at the Professional School of Music in Viana do Castelo (Portugal), and in 2002 he moved to the Musikhochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig, with Professor Christian Wetzel. There, joining the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, he played with conductors such as Ricardo Chailly, Herbert Blomsted, Daniel Harding and Charles Dutoit, and with soloists such as Frank-Peter Zimmerman, Leonidas Kavakos and Kim Kashkasian. He also toured Japan and Korea, as well as recording for Deutsche Grammophon.
In Leipzig he also collaborated as a soloist with the Bach Collegium Musikum and the Felix Mendelssohn Kammerorchester. Later he lived in Salzburg, where he completed a Magister-Studium at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg with Professor Stefan Schilli.
After winning the annual Mozarteum competition, he performed Richard Strauss’s Concerto for oboe with the orchestra of this institution in the Grosse Saal in Salzburg. During the 2007-2008 season he was principal oboe of the December Symphonierorchester Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich.
He has performed as a soloist on tours of Spain, Portugal, Germany and Austria, and with orchestras such as the HR Radio-Simfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart from SWR, the Symphonica Toscanini, the Cordoba Orchestra, the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville, the one at the Palacio de las Artes with Lorin Maazel or the one at the Teatro Regio in Turin with Gianandrea Noseda. He is currently solo oboe of the Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu.
Daniel Thiery is co-principal oboe in the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier
Edward Kay studied at the Royal Northern College of Music under Peter Graeme, and David Theodore in London graduating with a Distinction in Performance Diploma. He entered the Concours International Competitions for oboe in Paris achieving 3rd prize and later Geneva as finalist and was appointed Principal Oboist of the English Northern Philharmonic (Opera North) in 1982. In 1988 he became Principal Oboe of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and has often featured as soloist.
Edward occasionally appears as guest Principal Oboe with other British Orchestras most notably since 2010 with London Symphony Orchestra and with the RPO on tour to Azerbaijan and Shanghai. Teaching oboe and wind ensemble coaching has been a constant throughout his career, and taking part in Masterclasses is a regular activity with recent visits to Exeter, Trinity Laban London, and as a Howarth of London Oboe Artist to give a Masterclass and recital at The Royal Irish Academy of Music in Hublin.
Elaine Douvas is an institution in the oboe world, having served as principal oboe of the Metropolitan Opera since 1977 and oboe instructor at The Juilliard School since 1982. She has been an artist/faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 1997 and also teaches at Mannes College of Music and at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. Among her career highlights, Ms. Douvas has performed the Strauss Oboe Concerto with the MET Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, James Levine conducting, and Dutilleux’s “Les Citations” with the MET Chamber Ensemble. During her long career at the Met, she has participated in hundreds of live broadcasts, DVDs, and studio recordings.
One of the most influential teachers in the USA, Douvas’s pupils hold positions in numerous American orchestras and university faculties, and she was appointed Chairman of the Woodwind Department at Juilliard in 1997. In the summer she teaches intensive, one-week oboe seminars in several locations, the Hidden Valley Music Seminars in Carmel, CA, the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and Le Domaine Forget Academie in Quebec. She has given master classes at the Curtis and Cleveland Institutes of Music, Interlochen, the Manhattan and Eastman Schools of Music, the New World Symphony, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the Conservatories of Beijing and Shanghai.
Ms. Douvas’s CDs include a solo recital and her quartet project “Pleasure is the Law”, issued by Boston Records, and “Oboe Divas” with oboist Emily Pailthorpe, which is available from the Oboe Classics label. Her three albums of demonstration and written commentary for Music Minus One are used by teachers and students across the country.
Originally from Michigan, Douvas trained at the Cleveland Institute of Music with John Mack and at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Her previous positions include four years as principal oboe of the Atlanta Symphony under Robert Shaw, several summer seasons as guest principal oboe in the New York Philharmonic, the Grand Teton, Marlboro, Angel Fire, and Bravo!Colorado Festivals.
With her unique vocal sound and compelling musicianship, oboist Emily Pailthorpe has won a large following amongst fellow musicians and concertgoers worldwide.
Her versatile career has shown her equally at home as a soloist, orchestral principal, chamber musician, session artist and sought-after teacher.
Emily’s career was launched at the age of 17 when she became the youngest artist ever to win the Fernand Gillet International Oboe Competition. Playing the Vaughan Williams concerto, she was hailed by the judges as “the Jacqueline du Pré of the oboe”. Emily went on to make her acclaimed concerto debut in 2003, playing the Strauss Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and gave her Wigmore Hall recital debut in the same year.
Emily attended the Purcell School of Music and the Interlochen Arts Academy. She became a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and performed for the president at the White House and the Kennedy Center. She is a graduate of Yale University where she read English and graduated with distinction, and the Juilliard School of Music, where as a student of Elaine Douvas she won the concerto competition and the prize for most valued orchestral musician. Her playing has inspired many composers to write for her, including Paul Patterson, who wrote his Phoenix Concerto for her, and Richard Blackford, who wrote The Better Angels of Our Nature for her. Emily gave both the world premiere (UK, 2009) and US premiere performances of Patterson’s Phoenix and performed the world premiere of Richard Blackford’s The Better Angels of Our Nature in Los Angeles in 2013. She gave the UK premiere of Better Angels with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Martyn Brabbins in 2015.
In addition to her performances as soloist and chamber musician, Emily has appeared as guest principal oboe with many orchestras, notably the Philharmonia, the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, BBC Scottish, Welsh National Opera, Baltimore Symphony, Dallas Opera, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, Spoleto Festival Orchestra and English National Opera. A sought-after session artist, Emily features on the soundtracks of many films including Jane Eyre, Harry Potter and The Theory of Everything. She can be heard regularly on American National Public Radio, Classic FM and BBC Radio 3 and she has featured as a guest on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour’.
Emily is a founder member and the oboist of the London Conchord Ensemble, which celebrated its tenth anniversary with a performance at the BBC Proms Chamber Music Series. The ensemble performs in Europe and America with recent engagements at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Brussels Palais des Beaux Arts, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, BBC Wigmore Lunchtime Series and Washington’s Library of Congress. 2016 marked the second year of Conchord’s chamber music festival, the Conchord Festival, which takes place in Twickenham, ‘London’s Arcadia’, in June and of which Emily is Artistic Director. Drawing upon her deep interest in the relationship between literature and music she has brought guests including Simon Callow, Dame Felicity Lott, Michael Berkeley and Roderick Williams to collaborate with the ensemble. In 2015 she arranged a joint commission with the Charleston Literary Festival –The Rhythm of Silence, written by Alexandra Spencer-Jones – in which actors from Action to the Word Theatre Company and Conchord, alongside the acclaimed Juliet Stevenson, performed a synthesis of Benjamin Britten’s Phantasty Quartet and Virginia Woolf’s The Waves.
As part of the BBC celebrations to mark International Women’s Day 2016, Emily was invited to perform Thea Musgrave’s Helios Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the concert was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. Her recordings – amongst them English oboe concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra and chamber music of Poulenc, Loeffler, Thuille, Balakirev, Ravel, Dutilleux and Bach – have received many accolades. Her recording of the Bach Oboe d’Amore Concerto became Classic FM’s CD of the month.
Emily is a dedicated teacher; she has coached the Britten-Pears orchestra and given many masterclasses in the UK, France and America, including at the Juilliard School in New York. In 2016 she joined the faculty at the Aspen Music Festival for teaching and performances.
Emily lives in London with her husband, flautist Daniel Pailthorpe, and their 3 young children. She plays on an oboe by Howarth of London.
Ewan comes from Reading and has been playing the oboe since he was eight, firstly with Nicky Fairbairn and now with Melanie Ragge. He was the winner of the Woodwind Category Final of the BBC Young Musician 2020. He read Music at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, where he played in several ensembles, including the Oxford University Orchestra and a wind quintet, sung in the college choir and played piano in a jazz trio.
Franco Tangari made his debut in the musical world in 1970 in the supporting role of Amahal as a Menotti’s opera “Amahal and the night visitors” at the Rome Opera. In 1971 at the Scala in Milan he was Yniold in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande under the direction of G.Prêtre. He completed his musical studies at the Civic Music School in Milan and brilliantly graduated in oboe at the B. Marcello Conservatory in Venice under the guidance of A.Caroldi.
In 1981 he won the Stresa international competition. He collaborates with important chamber groups including “Carme”, “FiatiItaliani”, “Divertimento Ensemble”, participating in numerous recordings and from 1980 became Principal Oboe of the “Camerata Strumentale” in Milan, playing throughout Italy a large part of the Baroque oboe repertoire.
In 1982 he became a permanent member of the Rai Symphony Orchestra of Milan and since 1995 he has been the cor anglaise for the RAI National Symphony Orchestra based in Turin. He has toured Japan, South America, Germany, Austria, France, Spain and conductors such as Inbal, Chailly, Pretre, De Burgos have appreciated his particularly expressive sound. In 2003 he founded the “Baroque Ensemble” of OSN Rai with which he recorded music by Bach and Zelenka, played in the Cappella Paolina in Rome for the Quirinale Concerts and in the Piemonte in Musica circuit.
Gary Roberts is a member of the South Africa National Orchestra.
Since 1970, George Caird has combined a career as an oboist with one as a music educationalist, firstly teaching and later in senior posts at the Royal Academy of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Codarts Rotterdam and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
George studied the oboe with Janet Craxton and Evelyn Barbirolli at the Royal Academy of Music, with Helmut Winschermann at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie, and privately with Neil Black. He subsequently gained an MA in music at Peterhouse, Cambridge, graduating to pursue a freelance career as an oboist.
George with binoculars
He worked with many of London’s major orchestras and was a member of The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields from 1983 to 1993 whilst also devoting much time to chamber music. He has been a member of a number of leading ensembles, notably as a founder-member of The Albion Ensemble, Vega Wind Quintet and Caird Oboe Quartet.
George has been a committed teacher and educationalist throughout his career. He joined the Royal Academy of Music as professor of oboe in 1984, became Head of Woodwind in 1987 and Head of Orchestral Studies in 1989. In September 1993, George was appointed Principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University a post that he held until August 2010. From 2011 to 2016, George was Director of Classical Music at Codarts Rotterdam and in 2017 he was appointed interim Principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.
In August 2020, George was appointed Interim Principal of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, continuing as Associate Principal from September 2021 to April 2022 on the appointment of Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE as the permanent Principal.
Gordon Hunt was born in London and studied with Terence MacDonagh. He performs throughout the world as soloist and conductor, directs masterclasses and plays with renowned chamber ensembles. He also has a distinguished orchestral career as Principal Oboe of the Philharmonia and London Chamber Orchestras and has previously held the same position with the London Philharmonic. He is also Principal Oboe of the World Orchestra for Peace.
Regarded as one of the world’s leading oboists, he has appeared as soloist with conductors such as Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Giulini, Kondrashin, Muti, Sir John Pritchard, Sir Simon Rattle, Sinopoli and Welser-Möst. For four decades he has performed concertos and recitals on six continents. In 2005 he played the Adagio from Albinoni’s D minor concerto at the Service of Dedication and Prayer to celebrate the marriage of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall. In 2008 he was soloist with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, televised live to over 30m homes across the world.
Gordon has recorded a wide range of music for BMG, EMI and Virgin, including all of Mozart’s solo music. His recording of the Richard Strauss Concerto with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy (Decca) has been named the finest available by the Penguin CD Guide. He has made several recordings for BIS, including Elevazione, a very successful disc of popular concertos, which he also directed.
Gordon has been Music Director of the Danish Chamber Players and the Swedish Chamber Winds. He has conducted the National Symphony Orchestra of South Africa, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of South Africa, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Sinfonietta and Southbank Sinfonia in London, and in the Budapest Spring Festival. In 2011 he conducted concerts in Brazil, and on tour with the winds of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Last year he conducted concerts in the Traveling Notes festival in Tbilisi, Georgia. This year he will conduct in New Zealand, Brazil and the US.
Gordon is Professor at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and is much in demand for advice from students and professionals worldwide. He is a member of the jury for the International Oboe Competition of Japan. In 2010 he was designated a UNESCO Artist for Peace.
Over five years, engagements will take him to Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Georgia, South Africa, the US, Brazil, Chile, Panama, Japan, China, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, as well as around the UK.
He plays an XL oboe made by Howarth of London. In his free time, he is passionate about fly fishing for trout and salmon.
Holly Randall read Music at Cambridge University before completing Postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music and the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. In 2005 she won the Barbirolli International Oboe Competition and subsequently gave a solo recital at the Wigmore Hall. From 2006 until 2011 she was a member of the Orchestra of the Zürich Opera. She has played with most of the UK’s major symphony orchestras and since 2014 has been a member of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She has given masterclasses at the Dartington International Summer School and has coached young musicians from the Purcell School of Music and the National Youth Orchestra of Catalunya.
Igor Leschishin has been Principal Oboist of The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra since 1998.
From 1996 until 1998 Mr. Leschishin played in The New World Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas in Miami Beach, Florida. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1995 performing the Vivaldi Oboe Concerto with the New York String Orchestra.
Igor graduated from the Manhattan School of Music with a master’s degree in orchestral performance as a scholarship student of Joseph Robinson, Principal Oboist of The New York Philharmonic.
He participated in the Tanglewood Music Festival, Grant Park Music Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, and Spoleto Festival (USA and Italy). Igor Leschishin, born in Ukraine, won numerous first prize awards including the Belorussian Woodwind Competition and the International Woodwind Competition.
Inoko Isobe is an oboist in the Jyväskylä Sinfonia. Born into a musical family in Takasaki City in Japan, Inoko completed her undergraduate studies in Cultural Sciences at Waseda University. Before moving to Europe, Inoko studied oboe with Mikao Hagimori and Mika Komiyama, and was the recipient of Young Artist Awards in both Gumma and Takasaki City. Inoko won the first prize at Crowther’s Oboe Competition at the GSMD in 2018.
Recent professional engagements include periods as Principal Oboe with Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the National Philharmonic of the Republic of Moldova and with Brasov Philharmonic Orchestra.
Jane Marvine joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as second oboe in 1978 and was appointed to the position of English horn by Yuri Temirkanov in 2000. In addition, she has performed as acting assistant principal oboe with the BSO for extended periods.
A native of the Chicago area, Jane began playing oboe at the age of ten and was fortunate to grow up in a public school system with an outstanding music program. After three years in the Chicago Youth Orchestra and summers at the National Music Camp of Interlochen Michigan she was accepted to their winter Academy. She majored in composition while playing principal oboe in the Interlochen orchestra and graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy with achievement awards in both.
She earned a Bachelor of Music in oboe and a Master’s Degree in composition from Northwestern University. Her oboe teachers include Ray Still, Marc Lifschey, Robert Bloom and Joseph Turner. Jane studied composition with John Paynter, Alan Stout and William Karlins.
While a student at Northwestern University, Jane performed on several occasions as English horn with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and also performed as extra oboe with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on several occasions including a tour to Carnegie Hall. She performed as English horn with the Chicago Festival Orchestra and as principal oboe with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the WGN Artist Showcase orchestra with members of the Chicago Symphony.
Jane concurrently plays principal oboe, oboe d’amore and English horn with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society Orchestra and frequently performs chamber music with her colleagues in the BSO. She has been a featured soloist with the Baltimore Symphony on oboe, oboe d’amore and English horn. She has presented solo recitals and master classes at the Peabody Conservatory, Towson University, the Shenandoah Conservatory, Interlochen Arts Academy and Arts Camp and has been a guest artist for the International Double Reed Society. She is currently a member of the oboe faculty at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University having previously taught at Catholic University, Towson University and Essex Community College.
Jane has spent almost all of her years with the Baltimore Symphony in the additional role of player representative and is currently serving as the chair of the BSO Players’ Committee.
For 27 years from June 1978 until September 2005, Joseph Robinson served as Principal Oboe of the New York Philharmonic. Following his famous predecessor Harold Gomberg, he was the last oboist in America to study directly with the legendary Marcel Tabuteau. Like both of them, Joseph became one of the most distinguished orchestra musicians of his era. (See Career Highlights for a chronology of his New York Philharmonic activities).
Since his retirement from the New York Philharmonic in September 2005, Joseph has continued to appear extensively as an oboe soloist, chamber musician, teacher and clinician from Atlanta to Alaska. Performances have included concerti by J. S. Bach; G. F. Handel, J. C. Bach, W. A. Mozart, R. Vaughan-Williams, J. Francaix, and R. Strauss, which he played eight times during the summer of 2007. He also appears often in duo concerti and recital programs with Mary Kay Robinson, his violinist wife.
Currently Artist in Residence at Lynn University’s Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida, Joseph also participates each summer in the Bellingham (WA) Festival of Music.
He was Artist in Residence at Duke University from 2006-2008, where he produced important double reed events and collaborated with faculty members and the Ciompi Quartet. Together with award-winning film maker Jason Starr, in 2006 he produced in New York City’s Riverside Church an historic concert/documentary of Mahler’s Second Symphony.
Named a Scholar of the Aspen Institute in 1994, he served for four years on the “Magic of Music” panel forKnight Foundation—a group that directed major funding in support of American symphony orchestras. In 1983 he received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from his undergraduate alma mater, Davidson College, where with Zubin Mehta’s help he created a major scholarship fund for young musicians at the school. In 1989 he proposed, planned, and arranged funding for the New York Philharmonic’s two-week stay at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming—the first residency in the Philharmonic’s 147-year history. As a member of its board of directors in 1992, Joseph produced “Heroes of Conscience” forUnion Theological Seminary—both as a benefit concert, which helped raise $2 million for an endowment at the Seminary in memory of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and as an Emmy-award-winning television concert/documentary. He created and directed chamber music residencies for his Philharmonic colleagues at The Homestead, a five-star resort in Hot Springs, Virginia, and at Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pennsylvania. In the spring of 2003 he produced “Prelude to Piano,” an event that involved pianist Emmanuel Ax and fifteen other professionals in joint performances with students at Northern Valley High School in Demarest, New Jersey, and that raised nearly $100,000 for purchase of the school’s new Steinway B. (See Fundraising for more information about fundraising projects.)
Named a charter member of the Board of Overseers of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia as well as of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute of the Arts, Joseph Robinson helped organize the Children’s Merry-Go-Round, Inc., a not-for-profit organization aspiring to build a carousel for peace in Israel. In 1976 he created in honour of his teacher the John Mack Oboe Camp at Little Switzerland, North Carolina—one of the most successful specialty seminars of its kind in the world, and for three years he headed a national advisory committee for Oberlin College Conservatory. As president of the Grand Teton Orchestral Seminar, he helped develop unique orchestral training that inspired imitation in the first Master of Orchestral Performance degree in American higher education — at Manhattan School of Music, where Mr. Robinson was department chair for the program and head of Oboe Studies. In Riverside Church in New York City on May 15, 2005 he received the Presidential Medal — Manhattan’s highest award – for twenty-seven years of meritorious faculty service to the School.
Joseph’s career as an oboist began effectively with his appointment by Music Director Robert Shaw to the principal chair of the Atlanta Symphony in 1967. From 1974 until 1978 he was Instructor of Oboe at the North Carolina School of the Arts, during which time he served as a member of the Clarion Woodwind Quintet and the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra. He also served as volunteer principal oboe and member of the board of directors of the Winston-Salem Symphony. He won the New York Philharmonic Principal Oboe audition in December, 1977, following a tour the previous summer in which he was Acting Assistant Principal with the Cleveland Orchestra. Despite an invitation from Music Director Seiji Ozawa following a week of concerts as guest oboist with his orchestra, Joseph declined to join the Boston Symphony in the spring of 1989.
A native of Lenoir, North Carolina, Joseph Robinson majored in English and economics at Davidson College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Fulbright Award for study of federal governmental support to the arts in Germany. It was during this post-graduate year in Europe that he met Marcel Tabuteau and became that great teacher’s first student in the ten years following Mr. Tabuteau’s retirement from the Philadelphia Orchestra. A frequent public speaker, he has keynoted the Wyoming Governor’s Conference on the Arts in Cheyenne and the Association of North Carolina Symphony Orchestras in Raleigh, and has lectured widely on orchestra governance as well as the interpretative art of music. He is author of several published articles, including one in the Wilson Quarterly concerning the need to reintroduce instrumental training in the nation’s public schools; another in Instrumentalist dealing with fundamentals of oboe playing; and still another in Harmony that recommends a competitive format as a way of increasing public interest in orchestra concerts. As a demonstration of this competitive potential for orchestras, Joseph and his counterpart Richard Woodhams, produced a concert performed jointly by players from the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in Camden, New Jersey in November 1996—an unprecedented event hailed by The New York Times as “a classic battle of the bands.”
His invitation to Johanna Johnson, a 16-year-old oboe-playing cancer patient from California, that permitted her to fulfill a Make-A-Wish Foundation dream by performing in the New York Philharmonic, sparked international interest in December 2000. In April 2005 he joined Johanna Johnson for her senior recital at Gustavus-Adolphus College in Minnesota.
Joseph is married to violinist Mary Kay Robinson, a former member of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and they are parents of three remarkable daughters — executive Katie, doctor Jody and diva Becky.
Karen Birch Blundell is an active freelancer who enjoys performing on both oboe and English horn. She is the English horn player for the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic and is a member of Double Entendre Music Ensemble. Each summer, she travels to Greensboro, NC to serve as Associate Principal Oboe/English horn of the prestigious Eastern Music Festival. While at EMF, she performed Miguel De Aquila’s English horn concerto Broken Rondo as a faculty soloist with the Young Artists orchestra.
Karen performs throughout the Northeast with ensembles including Amor Artis, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, New Camerata Opera and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.
Prior to her time in NY, Karen was Second Oboe/English horn with the Sarasota Orchestra. She regularly guested with neighboring orchestras including the Florida Orchestra and the Naples Philharmonic. She travelled to St. Croix as a featured artist for the Whim Candlelight Concert Series and spent three summers as Principal Oboe with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in Mexico City. She has been a guest musician with the American Symphony, The Riverside Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Houston Ballet Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Pops where she was honored to don one of their famous red jackets.
Beyond the Classical realm, Karen has toured the US with the New Sousa Band and been a back up musician for mega stars including Bernadette Peters, Idina Menzel, Mannheim Steamroller and The Who.
Karen holds a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory, a Master of Music from the Hartt School of Music and completed a fellowship at the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Her teachers include James Caldwell, Alex Klein, Humbert Lucarelli and Robert Atherholt.
Katherine Needleman joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as principal oboist in 2003, the same year she won first prize at the International Double Reed Society’s Gillet-Fox Competition. As soloist, she has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, the Richmond Symphony, the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Haddonfield Symphony, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, in addition to her frequent appearances with the Baltimore Symphony. She has performed as guest principal oboist with the New York Philharmonic, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New Zealand, and San Diego.
Devoted to the music of our time, Ms. Needleman has premiered numerous works and has commissioned works by Luis Prado, Chia-Yu Hsu and David Ludwig, including his Pleaides which she recorded on the GENUIN label with pianist Jennifer Lim in their album, Duos for Oboe and Piano. She gave the American premiere of Ruth Gipps’ Oboe Concerto with the Richmond Symphony and Valentina Peleggi, conducted and played the American premiere of Brenno Blauth’s Concertino with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and gave the West Coast premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Oboe Concerto at the Cabrillo Festival with Marin Alsop conducting. She gave the premiere of Kevin Puts’ oboe concerto, Moonlight, at the Baltimore Symphony’s New Music Festival with Marin Alsop.
Ms. Needleman’s chamber music engagements have taken her to Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York; Jordan Hall and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, as well as the Freer Gallery in Washington D.C. She has appeared at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Italy’s Spoleto Festival, the Alpenglow Festival, the Newport Music Festival, and throughout Greenland with Trio La Milpa as part of the first American chamber music ensemble to appear there. A participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, she has also appeared on two tours with “Musicians from Marlboro.”
In the 2019-2020 season before it was truncated by COVID-19, Ms. Needleman presented a recital for oboe and piano with pianist Hanchien Lee of music by women composers in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Tampa, New York City, Washington D.C., Oberlin, and Pittsburgh. She concurrently presented a recital of music for oboe alone in Baltimore, Northfield MN, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Iowa City, Madison WI, Eau Claire WI, and Greensboro VT. A third recital project that involved suppressed music of “degenerate” composers started and ended in March, 2020. In late March, 2020, she began her Lockdown Oboe Solo Concerts during COVID-19 quarantine which covered Telemann’s Twelve Fantasias and a broad survey of repertoire for oboe solo from the past 100 years. She broadcast eleven weekly performances including numerous premieres to an audience of 75,000 and growing from her living room, except for one performance which began on a raft in floating on a cold lake near the Canadian border and ended with her swimming into shore. Ms. Needleman co-founded and curates Coffee, Patisserie, and Classical Music, a morning classical music series at An Die Musik, one of Baltimore’s most intimate venues.
A lifelong improviser, she has recorded the Marmalade Balloon, an album of improvised, ambient chamber music with distinguished classical music colleagues as well as synthesizers from the 1960s and 1970s. She started writing music down on paper during the COVID-19 pandemic and won the International Double Reed Society’s Inaugural Commissioning Competition with her sonata for oboe and piano. They commissioned her to write a work for English horn and piano which received its premiere in July, 2021, with Alison Teale of the BBC Symphony.
A Baltimore native, Ms. Needleman attended high school at the Baltimore School for the Arts but left early to attend the Curtis Institute of Music. She served on the faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University for fifteen years and is currently on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Kirstie grew up in Essex but has returned to her father’s hometown of Glasgow. From a musical family she began playing the piano at the age of 4 and took up the oboe when she was 12. Her studies continued at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester under the tuition of Peter Graeme, (a member of English Chamber Orchestra and the original oboist for Benjamin Britten’s chamber operas). At the R.N.C.M. Kirstie was awarded The Frederick Nixon Black prize and graduated with a G.R.N.C.M. Hons. Since graduating she has been a guest freelancer with R.O.H. Covent Garden, R.P.O., R.L.P.O., R.S.N.O., W.N.O., BBCPHIL, BBCSSO S.C.O., and Scottish Ballet.In 1995 Kirstie was appointed Principal 2nd oboe and cor anglais with The Orchestra of Scottish Opera. Kirstie is oboe professor at St. Andrews University and is also a regular external examiner and deputy teacher at the R.C.S. In addition to her music making she graduated as a BSc Hons in Psychology at The Open University in 2012.
A native of San Francisco, Liam Boisset has performed in many of the world’s great concert halls. Recently he served as guest Principal Oboe with the Los Angeles Philharmonic – including two international tours – as well as the Metropolitan Opera, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony, and the Calgary Philharmonic. Mr. Boisset also regularly performs in supporting roles with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. In the past, Mr. Boisset has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. Every summer, Mr. Boisset looks forward to teaching and performing alongside Elaine Douvas at Hidden Valley Music Seminars in Carmel, California. He was also a featured teacher and performer in the inaugural season of the Juilliard Summer Winds festival this past summer. He has been awarded fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Tanglewood Music Center, and was recently a featured guest artist at ChamberFest Cleveland. Mr. Boisset studied with Elaine Douvas at the Juilliard School and Eugene Izotov at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Liam Boisset proudly performs on a Howarth XL Cocobolo VT.
Lidia Khaner has been teaching oboe and chamber music at uAlberta since 2002, She has performed as Principal Oboe with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra since 1996. She studied oboe in her native Poland at the Warsaw Academy of Music and graduated With Distinction in 1987.
As a member of the Sinfonia Varsovia and the Polish Chamber Orchestra, she toured around the world playing both orchestral parts and solo concerts. During a sabbatical, she studied in Germany at the Stuttgart Hochshule für Musik with Ingo Goritzki, and played with the Deutsche Kammerakademie. Lidia played Principal Oboe with the Sinfonia Helvetica from 1992 to 1997.
She has recorded works for the KOS label, the Polish radio and television network, CBC, and Arktos Recordings. Lidia has performed and recorded solo concerti with the Alberta Baroque Ensemble and soloed with the Red Deer Symphony, the Edmonton Symphony and the Edmonton Chamber Orchestras.
Born in 1949, Malcolm began playing the oboe in 1964 at Bryanston School.
He ran a series of chamber music concerts every Wednesday evening without exception at school, and took part in many concerts around Dorset.
In 1967, he won a scholarship to the Paris Conservatoire of Music, where he studied with Pierre Pierlôt. When Pierlôt left the Conservatoire, Messiter returned to the Royal College of Music in London to continue his studies with Sydney Sutcliffe. There he won the Joy Boughton prize, the Grade 5 prize, the R.A.O.S. medal and a Performers’ A.R.C.M. with Honours.
Malcolm was appointed principal oboe in the BBC Concert Orchestra at the age of only 22. After 5 years, he left to become principal oboe in the London Mozart Players. He was a joint-winner of the 1978 Leeds International Musicians’ Platform. As the number of solo engagements escalated, Malcolm had to reduce his orchestral playing. As soloist, Malcolm has recorded for BMG, RCA, Deutsche Grammophon, ASV, Hyperion, Arte Nova Classics and the BBC as well as a great many British and foreign radio and TV stations. He is the oboe in Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells”, and for many years played with the Amadeus Quartet all over Europe. He was the oboe soloist on the theme to BBC TV’s “The Secret Garden”, as well as a regular performer on radio and television world-wide.
Malcolm has played as a soloist in more than 55 countries, and is also a busy arranger of music for chamber groups, and for orchestras including the BBC Concert Orchestra, The English Chamber Orchestra, the Radio Orchestra of Cologne and the London Festival Orchestra.
Malcolm currently plays principal oboe with the London Festival Orchestra, The English Classical Players, the Thames Chamber Orchestra, among others.
Margaret Tindale is sub principal oboe in the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.
Born in Italy, Marika Lombardi studied at the National School of Music in Milan where she was awarded the first prize for oboe and for chamber music. Her career commenced in 1988 with a successful solo tour. She then studied at a number of schools in Paris, from which she was awarded several first prizes (Conservatoire National de Région de St Maur, Ecole Nationale de Musique de Montreuil, Ville de Paris).
To perfect her technique, Marika studied with masters such as Pierre Pierlot, Hansjörg Schellenberger, Maurice Bourgue, Ingo Goritzki, Lothar Koch and Sergiu Celibidache. Prize winner at several international oboe and chamber music competitions, she was awarded a distinction at the international chamber music competition of Paris. Additionally, Marika was a prize winner at the Cziffra Foundation. Marika Lombardi plays regularly in chamber music and orchestral concerts in France and in Europe and gives master classes.
She has played also with leading musicians including Bruno Canino, Frank Braley, Sylvie Gazeau, Henry Demarquette, Nathalie Dang. Since 2000, Marika has been the artistic director of the international music academy and festival « Risonanze Armoniche » in Lasino (Italy) and of the oboe festival in Paris « OBOE ». She has performed in many music festivals in Europe and has performed in the United States . Marika Lombardi has been teaching oboe in Paris since 1992 at the Conservatoire Municipal du Centre and du 9ème de Paris as well as at the national schools of music in Pantin and Chantilly, the CRR d’Aubervilliers and the Scola Cantorum. She received her National musical diploma for teaching in 1999. In 2012 she was invited to teach a master class at N.Y. University. Her cd SOLO has been chosen for several radio broadcasts, including those on France Musique (France) and Rai 3 Suite ( Italy). She plays a Howarth-London oboe.
Martin Schuring held orchestral positions with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, The Florida Orchestra and the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra prior to joining the ASU faculty in 1992. Since 1980, Schuring has been a regular participant at the Grand Teton Music Festival, playing English horn and oboe in the Festival Orchestra as well as making frequent appearances on the Festival’s chamber music series.
In other summer activities, he has participated in the Bach Aria Festival, served as professor of oboe at the Londrina Music Festival in Brazil, and performed as principal oboe of the Orchestre Philharmonique Rhodanien and professor of oboe at the Academie Européenne de Musique in Tournon-sur-Rhône, France. Both as soloist and as a member of the reed trio, Ocotillo Winds, Martin Schuring performs at universities and concert venues throughout the United States and abroad. Schuring has recorded for Philips, Koch International, and Summit Records, both as soloist and as an orchestral player. Recently, he recorded the world premiere of Oboe Concerto, Op. 57 by Eric Funk with the Prague Radio Symphony on the MMC label. A CD of reed trio music recorded by the Ocotillo Winds, Rustiques, is available from Summit Records
Martin Schuring has published articles in several journals, including The Double Reed, and Flute Talk. His new edition of the Barret Oboe Method was first published by Kalmus in 2001 with a significantly revised and expanded edition available since 2010. Martin has written the first comprehensive book on oboe playing published in many years, Oboe Art and Method, published by Oxford University Press in 2009. He has performed at every Conference of the International Double Reed Society since 1997, including featured concerto performances at the 2000 conference in Buenos Aires, and the 2001 conference in Morgantown, WV. He holds the office of President of the International Double Reed Society. Together with bassoon colleague Jeffrey Lyman, Martin Schuring hosted the 1998 Conference of the International Double Reed Society at Arizona State University where he is Professor of Oboe. He again co-hosted the 2011 IDRS conference with Albie Micklich. Martin Schuring studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with John de Lancie. He performs on Howarth XL instruments exclusively.
Melissa Hooper is Assistant Principal Oboe at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Michael Wilson was appointed Principal Oboe of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009. Prior to this he was Co-Principal Oboe from 2005. Before moving to Hong Kong, he was working regularly with London-based orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra with which he toured extensively in Germany under the direction of then Chief Conductor, Kurt Masur. He also worked with other UK orchestras, which gave rise to the opportunity to play Vivaldi’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin, with Nigel Kennedy.
Michael studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where he graduated with First Class Honours and received the Philip Jones prize for woodwind. He was then awarded a place in the newly founded orchestra, the Southbank Sinfonia, based in London.
Michael’s introduction to music started at eight years old when he began singing as a chorister in a cathedral choir. Requiring rehearsals and services every day until the age of 14, he developed a keen musical understanding and acquired a broad knowledge of choral repertoire.
Since moving to Hong Kong he has been invited to play Guest Principal Oboe with orchestras such as the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Nancy Dimock is the principal oboist of the Springfield and Vermont Symphonies, a member of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra and the Chameleon Arts Ensemble. She frequently performs as a guest with ensembles around Boston, including Boston Lyric Opera, Portland Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, BMOP and the Boston Pops.
She has been the principal oboist of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and can be heard performing with the HSO on the Grammy-nominated recording Rosemary Clooney: The Final Concert. She has been on the Prairie Home Companion radio show, NPR’s Performance Today, and PBS’s Great Performances, and she regularly performs live on Boston’s classical radio station, WGBH. Nancy has performed the Bach Concerto for Violin and Oboe many times with renowned violinist Jaime Laredo, and she has collaborated with such artists as the Jacques Thibaud Trio and the Lydian String Quartet.
She studied with Alfred Genovese and Joseph Robinson at the New England Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music.
At 18, Natalie won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where she studied the oboe with highly acclaimed soloist, Sarah Francis and the cor anglais with the London Symphony Orchestra’s, Christine Pendrill.
Natalie has freelanced throughout Europe and America with orchestras, jazz, rock and chamber ensembles. From being called upon to play with Led Zeppelin to performing solo recitals at venues including St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Natalie has played for the British Royal family on several occasions. She was commissioned to write and record a lullaby for Princess Catharina Amalia of the Dutch Royal family. She has contributed to BBC Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday, recorded for the BBC, Spanish television, Channel 4 (UK) and WGBH (USA).
Summer 2016 Natalie toured the UK, recording and performing her solo music, “Cathedral Whispers” and “Redemption” including Iona Abbey, Scotland.
Whilst in Kansas City she co-founded a 6-piece jazz/world fusion ensemble “Aurora Consort” comprising of 5 jazz musicians and herself. Performing, writing and along with recording their CD “Twelve Years in October” there came a breakthrough for Natalie, finding a new sound with her oboe more open and free.
Originally from Naperville, Illinois, oboist Nora Anderson Lewis enjoys a varied performance career and has played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW series, with Alarm Will Sound, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Classical Orchestra, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, New Hampshire Symphony, Camerata Chicago, and International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). She was a founding member of Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente and held orchestral positions with the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra and the Plymouth Philharmonic. She has performed in recital at St. Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, London, on the Cranbrook Music Guild artist series, Hale Library concert series, and in live recital broadcasts on Blue Lake Public Radio, WMUK Kalamazoo’s “In Concert,” and “Live from Studio B” at WFMT in Chicago.
Nora has presented clinics, performances, and papers at national and international conferences including the Midwest Clinic, International Double Reed Society, Society of Composers Inc., College Music Society, CBDNA (southwest region), ClarinetFest, and National Flute Association in locations such as Finland, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and throughout the United States. Honors include a Big-12 Faculty Fellowship, honorary membership in Sigma Alpha Iota as a National Arts Associate, Pi Kappa Lambda, and a Yale AlumniVentures Grant. For ten summers Lewis taught at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. She has served on the CMS National Advisory Board for performance, as editor for the Midwest Double Reed Society, and is consulting editor for The Instrumentalist magazine.
With clarinetist Phillip O. Paglialonga and bassoonist Eric Van der Veer Varner, Nora was a founding member of the PEN Trio, a chamber ensemble passionate about performance, education, and scholarship. From 2010-2019 the ensemble commissioned, premiered, and promoted numerous new works and gave concerts, master classes, and entrepreneurial workshops throughout the United States as well as in Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, France, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Panama, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom.
Summit Records recently released PEN Trio’s album, Found Objects New Music for Reed Trio, featuring music expressly written for the ensemble, which is also available on streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify. Nora is currently writing the book, Notes for Oboists: A Guide to the Repertoire, part of the Notes for Performers series published by Oxford University Press.
Prior to her appointment at Lawrence, she was Associate Professor of Oboe at Western Michigan University, where she also coordinated the Bullock Performance Institute, and at Kansas State University, where she also served as Associate Director for the School of Music, Theatre and Dance. Nora is a graduate of Lawrence’s acclaimed double-degree program in oboe performance and philosophy and received a Master of Music degree from the Yale University School of Music and a Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. Her principal oboe teachers include Michael Henoch, Richard Killmer, Ronald Roseman, Howard Niblock, and Grover Schiltz (English horn).
At Lawrence, Nora enjoys teaching a variety of courses including Aesthetics of Music, Music in Fin-de-Siècle Paris and Vienna, and Sublime Frequencies: Punk Ethnography in Our Digital Age. Nora lives in Appleton, Wisconsin and enjoys spending time with her two standard poodles, Chloe and Cleo, and cat, Alexey. Nora enjoys the outdoors and recently used Lawrence’s December Term to walk 500 miles following the Camino de Santiago from Lisbon, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Patrick Flanaghan is Principal Cor Anglais with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He teaches Cor Anglais at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Born in London he began his musical education as a chorister at Salisbury Cathedral. Patrick went on to the Purcell School of Music where he studied with Melanie Ragge and won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Celia Nicklin (Oboe) and Geoffrey Brown (Cor Anglais). Whilst at the Royal Academy he won the Leila Bull Oboe Prize. Patrick gained a DAAD scholarship to study with Prof. Emanuel Abbühl at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim. During his time in Germany, Patrick appeared regularly as guest Principal Cor Anglais with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, WDR Funkhaus Orchestra Cologne and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra Hamburg and as guest Principal Oboe with the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra.
Since returning to the UK, Patrick has been guest Principal Cor Anglais with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Aurora Orchestra. He is also an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. Numerous recordings include Solo Oboe on La Folia’s The Vivaldi Files, Cor Anglais in Rob Keeley’s Triple Concerto and Solo Cor Anglais in Copland’s Quiet City with Septura Brass.
Patrick has given Oboe and Cor Anglais classes at RAM, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Trinity Laban, Hochschule für Musik Mainz and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim.
Paul Schieman studied piano, organ and oboe at McGill University in Montréal, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree with distinction in 1978. His principal oboe teachers were Don Hyder, Peter Bauman and Harry Sargous. In 1979 he accepted the position of Assistant Principal Oboe of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as well as Organist and Choir Master at St. Andrew’s United Church in Edmonton.
In 1980 he formed the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, an Edmonton based chamber orchestra devoted to performance of 17th and 18th century orchestral music, and has been its Artistic Director and Conductor since its formation.
Prior to moving to Edmonton from his hometown of Montréal, Paul performed with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra, Le Studio de Musique Ancienne and the McGill Chamber Orchestra. He also held positions as a church organist and taught the oboe at the McGill Conservatory of Music and Vanier College.
Phil Feather is Professor of OboeProfessor at the California State University, Los Angeles
Philip Harmer is an oboe teacher at The Royal Academy of Music. He is Co-principal oboe of the English Chamber Orchestra and guest principal oboe with many of the country’s leading orchestras. He has made solo appearances with the ECO and Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
Philip studied with Michael Winfield at the Royal College of Music. While there, he was awarded an exhibitioner scholarship and won all the main oboe prizes including the Joy Boughton Memorial Award.
On leaving the RCM Philip was made principal oboe with the English Sinfonia, with whom he performed many concertos including those by Strauss, Boughton, Vivaldi, Mozart (Snape Maltings) and also recorded the Holst Fugal Concerto for Naxos.
In 1999 Philip became a member of the English Chamber Orchestra where he happily remains. Tours with them have taken him as far afield as Korea, Bermuda, Japan, South Africa and the USA to name but a few.
Other guest principal oboe work includes performances with the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, CBSO, LPO, RPO, Philharmonia and the BBC orchestras. TV dramas (Wolf Hall, Father Brown) and film (Harry Potter, Atonement) make up another large part of his playing career, plus the occasional unusual numbers on Strictly Come Dancing and Tina Turner’s 60 birthday concert at the BBC.
Teaching is a huge passion for Philip and as well as a position at the RAM Junior Department, he also teaches at Kings Canterbury. Many of his RAM students have been offered places and scholarships to senior conservatoires , and with reed classes taken by himself and Jo Lively, many are given good foundations in the art of reed making .
Philip has given many performance classes at senior conservatoire level and also enjoys examining for final recitals and adjudicating.
In 2018 Philip was made a Hon Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for his services.
Dr. Rachel Becker is Assistant Professor of Musicology and Oboe at Boise State University. She previously taught at the University of Cambridge in the UK. Rachel received her PhD from the University of Cambridge, and her MM in Oboe Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She also has an MPhil from the University of Oxford and completed her BA in Music with Highest Distinction at the University of Virginia.
At Boise State, Rachel teaches oboe, undergraduate and graduate music history courses, and graduate seminars. Her oboe students benefit from credit-bearing reed-making classes alongside their lessons and studio classes.
Rachel’s research focuses on issues of genre, virtuosity, gender, popularity, and the development of woodwind instruments. She explores social and cultural influences on woodwind opera fantasias, including their reception history and the (positive and negative) emotional responses they have evoked contemporaneously and today, as well as the ways in which the composer-performers manipulated the operas they used. Future research plans include investigating the original performance spaces of these pieces, as well as the specific mechanics of instruction and performance of these intensely virtuosic works at the time in which they were composed.
Her publications include a chapter in Nineteenth-Century Programme Music (Brepols, 2019), an invited article in the July 2020 issue of the International Double Reed Society journal, and a review in Early Music. Rachel is active in musicological societies and has presented with the American Musicological Society, the Royal Musical Association, and the Biennial International Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music.
Rachel remains active as a performing oboist. She has recently played with the Portland Opera, with the King’s College and St John’s College, Cambridge choirs and with the renowned Philharmonia Orchestra as a part of the King’s College 500 celebrations. She has worked with conductors including Sir Roger Norrington, Peter Donohoe, Paul Daniel, and Howard Shelley, and has performed in Cadogan Hall and King’s Place, London. She also performed at the Victoria and Albert Museum where she premiered Tim Watts’ opera Kepler’s Trial.
Robert Morgan is solo English horn and assistant principal oboe for the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra. He is also principal oboist for the Music of the Baroque and Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra. Robert is a frequent soloist with numerous area orchestras and musical organizations and has performed at the White House with Music of the Baroque and with members of the Guarneri Quartet in Maryland. He studied with Ray Still, Marc Lifschey and John Mack.
Robert Sheena has been the English horn player of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra since 1994, during which time his uniquely vocal style of playing has garnered accolades from audience members and the media alike. In his more than twenty years as a member of the BSO, Robert has performed as soloist with the orchestra on several occasions, most notably in the world premiere performances of George Tsontakis’s Sonnets-a BSO commission composed specifically for him-at Symphony Hall in February 2016 with Andris Nelsons conducting, followed by a Tanglewood performance that August. He has also been featured in BSO performances at Tanglewood of André Previn’s Reflections and Aaron Copland’s Quiet City. With the Boston Pops Orchestra he has been featured at Symphony Hall in Quiet City and Michael Daugherty’s Spaghetti Western.From 1987 to 1991 Robert was the assistant principal oboe and English horn of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Since then he has made numerous trips to perform in Asia, not only with the BSO, but also to perform in Japan as a guest English hornist with the Super World Orchestra (2001), Affinis Music Festival (2009), and Seiji Ozawa’s Saito Kinen Orchestra (2014). From 1991 until joining the BSO he was assistant principal oboe and English horn with the San Antonio Symphony. From 1984 to 1987 he was a freelance oboist in the Chicago area, playing in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and frequently as a substitute oboist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Robert is an instructor of both the oboe and the English horn at Boston University’s School of Music and Tanglewood Institute, at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. An alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center, he works with the fellowship oboists there every summer as a TMC faculty member, coaching them in chamber music and giving English horn master classes. Robert occupies the Beranek Chair in the woodwind section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Ron Cohen Mann a.k.a. oboeron, brings brightness and optimism through their popular Instagram and YouTube channel. Ron has been hailed as the “Jonathan Van Ness of the oboe” (CBC Music) and proudly projects their queer identity as a role model for LGBTQ youth. Ron is a frequent recitalist, new music proponent, orchestral musician, and teacher based in Toronto. Ron was recently named on CBC’s 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30. Ron is a Howarth Artist and plays on a Howarth LXV-VT oboe.
Inspired by the variety of sounds and colours of the oboe, Ron is passionate about advancing the instrument as a solo voice in recitals and chamber music. Ron’s solo debut at Carnegie Hall was with harpist Noël Wan, as featured artists in the Yale in New York series. As a winner of the Yale Chamber Music Competition, Ron performed the monumental Prokofiev Quintet on the subscription Oneppo Chamber Music Series. At the Orford Festival, they shared the stage with Alex Klein, James Campbell, and Stéphane Lévesque. At the Brott Music Festival, Ron was a featured soloist for J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti Nos. 1 & 2.
Ron was a prizewinner at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition, and the winner of the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition and Ben Steinberg Musical Legacy Award. They were a semi-finalist in the Houston Symphony Ima Hogg Competition.
A champion of new music and lesser-known solo music for the oboe and English horn, Ron has been fortunate to premiere pieces by Jocelyn Morlock, Nicky Sohn, Matthew Emery, and Liliya Ugay. Ron has fostered a partnership with the Yarilo Contemporary Music Society in Vancouver, BC as both a featured recitalist and ensemble member for Steve Reich’s Tehillim. Ron has served as guest principal oboe with the Esprit Orchestra.
Feeling equally at home within the orchestra, Ron cherishes performing with ensembles in Canada and abroad. In Ontario, Ron has appeared with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of Toronto, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, Niagara, and Windsor. Their festival appearances include The National Repertory Orchestra (Breckenridge, Colorado), L’Orchestre de la Francophonie, The National Academy Orchestra of Canada, and The National Youth Orchestra of Canada where they received the Award of Excellence. Outside of North America, they have toured to India, China, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Portugal.
Ron is a recent addition to the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University as Oboe Instructor. Ron has previously held positions as an Oboe Instructor at Yale College and as a Teaching Artist at the Yale Music in Schools Initiative. They proudly serve as a Mentor for the National Academy Orchestra of Canada. Ron is a frequent clinician at arts high schools in the Greater Toronto Area. For information about online oboe lessons including free trial lessons for prospective Laurier students, click here.
Ron is a graduate of the prestigious Artist Diploma program at the Yale School of Music. They completed their Master of Music at Mannes School of Music and their Bachelor of Music at the University of British Columbia where they were awarded the UBC Medal in Music. Ron’s teachers and mentors include Sarah Jeffrey, Stephen Taylor, Sherry Sylar, and Beth Orson.
Principal Oboe of the Orchestra del Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Third Prize at Concours International d’Execution Musicale de Genève 1998, Première Prix de Virtuositè at Conservatoire National Superièure de Genève under the guidance of Maurice Bourgue, Rossana is one of the most outstanding italian oboists. She started her professional career at the age of 21, obtaining the position of Solo Oboe at ORT Orchestra Regionale Toscana, Florence, where she played until 1997, when she won her current position in Venice.
She widened her experience as guest Principal in many leading European orchestras, such as Royal Concertgebow Amsterdam, Bayerische Rundfunk Symphony, Bayerische Staatsoper, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Orchestra Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestra Mozart with Claudio Abbado, Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Thanks to this collaborations she had the opportunity to play under the baton of L.Maazel, M.W.Chung, Z.Metha, M.Jansson, G.Pretre, D.Harding, J.Temirkanov, R.Muti.
By invitation of M°Ivan Fischer, she bacame member of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, taking part in several recordings and tours all over the world. As soloist she plays on regular basis with I Solisti Veneti since 2001; furthermore, she performed in front of ORT, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Sofa Philarmonic Orchestra, USA Army Wind Orchestra (Washington), and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra with Claudio Abbado. She performed also with her Orchestra in Venice the Strauss, Martinu, Maderna and Bach Oboe Concertos.
Aside from her profession as a performer, Rossana is a dedicate teacher, giving Masterclasses in various institutions in Italy, Australia and Venezuela, on invitation of prof. Abreu, founder of ‘El Sistema Nacional para las Orquestas Juveniles y Infantiles de Venezuela’.
Ruby Ashley is a lecturer in oboe studies at the RIAM. She has extensive experience in training students who become national prize-winners and members of professional orchestras in Ireland and Europe.
Ruby studied with Janet Craxton and subsequently at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. She continued her studies at the Nordwestdeutsche Musik-akademie and with Ray Still in Chicago, USA. In 1982 Ruby attended Goldsmiths College, London University to undertake orchestral studies at the National Centre for Orchestral Studies gaining the Diploma in Orchestral Studies in 1983. Ruby completed her Masters Degree in music in 2008; her specialist study was oboe reeds.
Ruby was a founding member of one of Ireland’s most respected and active chamber ensembles, the Degani Ensemble. For Music Network, the Degani Ensemble has toured extensively, including performances with soprano Cara O’Sullivan.
Ryan Roberts joined the New York Philharmonic as English horn / oboe in September 2019. He has performed with many of the country’s leading orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. A passionate teacher, Ryan serves on the oboe faculty at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and has been a guest lecturer at The Juilliard School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. As an oboist, Ryan Roberts received first prize at the International Double Reed Society 2018 Norma Hooks Young Artist Competition and the National Society of Arts and Letters 2018 Woodwind Competition.
Before joining the Philharmonic, Roberts spent one season as a member of the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Roberts recently premiered Michael Torke’s South, Concerto for Oboe and Chamber Orchestra, with the Albany Symphony, and recorded the work for release on Albany Records. An avid chamber musician, he performs at the Marlboro Music Festival during the summer under artistic directors Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss, and has collaborated in recitals with the Gamut Bach Ensemble, the Pacifica Quartet, and pianist Emanuel Ax.
As a Kovner Fellow graduate of The Juilliard School, Ryan Roberts studied with Elaine Douvas and appeared frequently as principal oboe of the Juilliard Orchestra, where he was recognized by The New York Times for his “exquisite” performance as the English horn soloist in Sibelius’s The Swan of Tuonela, led by Esa-Pekka Salonen, in 2017. Roberts has been a member of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, and spent three summers as the oboe fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. In 2016 he was featured as a recital soloist aboard the Crystal Symphony cruise line, touring Portugal, Spain, France, and England.
Ryan Roberts is also an accomplished pianist, having made his concerto debut at age 11. When he isn’t busy making reeds, Ryan can be found practicing piano, surfing, or running with his retired racing whippet, Malley.
Sarah Roper, Solo Oboe of the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, Spain, since 1996, was born in New Zealand but grew up and was educated in England. She studied the oboe at the Royal Academy of Music, London, with George Caird and Celia Nicklin, whilst reading music at London University simultaneously. At the RAM she was awarded the Robert Rendell prize. The “DAAD” (German government) scholarship enabled her to study at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Karlsruhe, Germany, with Thomas Indermühle, attaining distinction for the postgraduate “Künstlerische Ausbildung 1” diploma.
Sarah held the Associate Oboe position in the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Spain, 1995-1996 and was Associate Oboe in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, New Zealand, 2008-2009. She has performed and recorded as Solo Oboe with Klangforum, Vienna, orchestras and ensembles in Spain (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Moonwinds, Orquestra de Cadaqués), Germany (SWR Orchester) and in the UK (BBC Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Halle Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra).
She is a founding member of Cuarteto Emispherio with whom she released the CD “Quartets for Oboe and Strings” in 2015 (including the world premiere recording of “Horus” by Ferrer Ferran) and the world premiere digital track “Cuarteto con Oboe” by Jesús Torres in 2019 with Oboe Classics. In 2022 Cuarteto Emispherio launched a new project “Interconexiones” which involves the commissioning and recording of five brand new quartets for oboe and strings (https://cuartetoemispherio.com/eng/). Sarah also recorded and released “Fantasy for Oboe” by Malcolm Arnold in 2017 and “Silentium Amoris” for oboe and piano by Jesús Torres with Ignacio Torner in 2020 with Oboe Classics.
As a recitalist and soloist, she has performed in the UK, Austria, Germany, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Japan, USA, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. In 2013 Sarah gave solo recitals during the first Monteverdi Oboe Festival in Bolzano, Italy. She performed in the ABPD (Brazilian Double Reed Society) International Conferences in João Pessoa (2017) and in Sao Paulo (2018), Brazil. She world premiered “Soledad Habitada” for oboe and piano by Jesús Sancho (IDRS 2012 Ohio) and “Silentium Amoris” for oboe and piano by Jesús Torres (IDRS 2019, Tampa, Florida). In January 2020 Sarah performed the Spanish premiere of “Neon Highway” (concerto for oboe and 12 instruments) by Luke Styles and “Silentium Amoris” for oboe and piano by Jesús Torres with Taller Sonoro, during the “IX Encuentros Sonoros” Festival in Seville. In 2022 she collaborated with the publisher, Curiad, for the first printed edition of the concerto for oboe and orchestra, Carillons for Oboe and Orchestra (1965, revised 1973) by welsh composer Grace M. Williams (1906- 1977), a work which Sarah performed in the USA in July 2022.
She collaborates with local youth orchestras such as the Youth Orchestra of South Spain (OJA) and the Orquesta Escuela Filarmonía de Sevilla. She has collaborated as professor of the Master’s degree in Orchestral Studies at the Academia de Estudios Orquestales at the Barenboim-Said Foundation and Fundación MpMusic in Seville and forms part of the oboe department at the Escuela Superior de Música de Alto Rendimiento (ESMAR). Sarah has been invited to give masterclasses during international summer courses and at music schools such as the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik and Darstellende Kunst, Stuttgart, the Royal Academy of Music, London, Auckland University, NZ, the Australian Double Reed Society in Adelaide, the ABPD (Brazilian Double Reed Society) International Conferences in João Pessoa (2017) and in Sao Paulo (2018), Brazil, and the “Oficina de Musica”, Curitiba in Brazil (35º, 2018 and 38º, 2021). In 2020, during the lockdown, she collaborated with the project “Oboé sem Fronteiras” (UFBP, Brazil) and the Arkansas State Virtual Summer Double Reed Camp (USA). She serves on jury panels for national and international competitions, such as the 2014 “Young Artist Competition” in New York, the 2017 “Gillet-Fox Competition” in Appleton, USA and the “2022 Online International BTHVN WIEN Competition”.
Sarah, an advocate for the double reed world, is a founding member of the ADCS (Seville Double Reed Society) and was President of AFOES (Spanish Double Reed Society) November 2018 – September 2022. Since January 2022 she serves as President of the International Double Reed Society.
Sarah is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and plays a Howarth of London LXV oboe.
J. Scott Janusch has been Principal Oboe of the Hawaii (Honolulu) Symphony since 1987. He was a scholarship student at the Manhattan School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music where he earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. His teachers include John Mack, Elaine Douvas, Henry Schuman and Marc Lifschey. Scott has also been the oboist in the Spring Wind Quintet since 1996 and also is the Education/Outreach Coordinator for Chamber Music Hawaii’s in-school and Community concerts and workshops.
Scott has also performed as Principal Oboe with the San Antonio Symphony and the Santa Barbara Symphony, where he was a featured soloist in April 2004. He was also appointed as Principal Oboe of the San Diego Symphony and Opera Orchestra for the 2001/2002 season and appointed to the same position in the Kansas City Symphony by Maestro Michael Stern for their 2010/2011 season. Scott has also been featured as a soloist with the Honolulu Symphony on six occasions performing the Mozart Oboe Concerto in 1990 and 2002, the Vivaldi d minor Concerto in 1999, the Bach Double Violin/Oboe Concerto and Mozart’s ‘Sinfonia Concertante’ in 2007, and the Strauss Oboe Concerto with Andreas Delfs conducting in 2008. Scott has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and participated in the Maui Chamber Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival, the La Jolla Chamber Music Festival, and the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. Also a keyboard artist, Scott has performed on the piano, harpsichord, and celesta for the Honolulu Symphony, Ballet Hawaii, Chamber Music Hawaii, and for several faculty recitals at the University of Hawaii.
Sherie Lake Aguirre has been the Principal oboist of the Virginia Symphony and the Virginia Opera since 1987. She graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor’s degree in Performance and continued her graduate studies with Ray Still at Northwestern University.
Sherie has held principal positions with the Singapore Symphony, La Sinfonica de Maracaibo, La Sinfonica de Tenerife, and La Sinfonica de Madrid. She appears regularly as soloist with the VSO and performs frequently in the Chamber Music series of the Virginia Arts Festival. From 1990 to 1997 she spent her summers in Boulder, Colorado performing with the Colorado Music Festival. For the past 15 summers, Sherie has performed and recorded several CD’s with the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival in Florida.
Sherie also maintains a private teaching studio full of young, local, talented oboe students in addition to fulfilling adjunct faculty positions at William and Mary College and Old Dominion University.
Sherry Sylar joined the New York Philharmonic in 1984 as Associate Principal Oboe. She was the Orchestra’s Acting Principal Oboe during the 2005–06 season and has also served as guest principal oboe for other major orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (in December 2015, led by Riccardo Muti), Boston Symphony Orchestra (in its 2001 tour, led by Bernard Haitink), the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (for its 2003 Carnegie Hall debut, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung), the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (in its 2007 American tour), and the St. Louis Symphony. Prior to joining the New York Philharmonic she was a member of the Louisville Orchestra. She was among the select group of Philharmonic musicians who joined the orchestra that Leonard Bernstein conducted in the historic Freedom Concert at the falling of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
As a featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic, she has performed Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat major, conducted by Jeffrey Kahane, and Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe, with the Orchestra’s Principal Associate Concertmaster Sheryl Staples, conducted by Kent Nagano. In 1989 she was soloist in the Orchestra’s performances and recording of Handel’s Oboe Concerto in G minor, Zubin Mehta conducting. She also serves as the New York Philharmonic’s oboe d’amore player, and she earned praise from The New York Times for her solos on that instrument during the orchestra’s 2013 The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival. In March 2016 she performed the World Premiere of Pablo Furman’s Concerto for Oboe and Strings with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra.
An avid performer of chamber music, she appears often in the concerts of the New York Philharmonic Ensembles and has participated in the Aspen and Grand Teton Music Festivals. She played Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VIIa for solo oboe at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater as part of the New York Philharmonic’s celebration of the late composer in 2008. She is also a member of the Philharmonic Quintet of New York, which was formed in 2001 to give concerts for workers in the World Trade Center area following the disaster of 9/11. The quintet has gone on to give master classes and recitals worldwide and is preparing its first CD.
Sylar gives master classes for oboists internationally and was invited to China as a judge for the Beijing National Orchestra’s first-ever auditions. A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, she earned her bachelor’s degree at Indiana University and her master’s degree from Northwestern University. She formerly taught at the University of Evansville in Indiana and since 2005 has served on the oboe faculty of Mannes College The New School for Music in New York City. Her new CD, Oboe Dolce, includes solo oboe and chamber music featuring Principal Bassoon Judith LeClair, Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps, Harriet Wingreen, Jonathan Feldman, Yi Fang Wang, and Norman Weiss.
Stefan Schilli studied at the Music Academies in Trossingen and Karlsruhe before becoming principal oboist in the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks – when he had just turned 20.
In 1996 he won the international “Prague Spring” competition as well as the ARD Competition after already having been honored in 1993 by the “German Music Competition”. Likewise, in 1996, he was also the recipient of the “Busch Brothers” prize, which has been awarded to exceptionally talented musicians since 1970.
Stefan Schilli ranks among the leading oboists of his generation and appears on all the major concert stages of the world.
He made his debut at the Berlin Philharmonie with the Oboe Concerto by Richard Strauss, accompanied by the German Symphony Orchestra of Berlin. He has performed as a soloist with such eminent conductors as Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Sir Colin Davis, Reinhard Goebel, Christopher Hogwood, Franz Welser-Möst and Dennis Russell-Davies. Guest appearances regularly take him to South-East Asia, the United States, Russia and renowned festivals such as the Edinburgh Festival, the Bath Festival and the Festival Pablo Casals in southern France.
Besides his professorship at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, which he has held since 2004, Stefan Schilli is also a regular guest instructor at such prominent institutes as the Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and McGill University in Montréal. A number of CD and television recordings document his wide-ranging activity. These include the oboe concertos by Strauss, Martin and Bernd Alois Zimmermann with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the direction of Mariss Jansons released by Oehms Classics.
For several years Stefan Schilli has also dedicated his talents to performance on period oboe instruments and is a founding member of the baroque ensemble “L’accademia giocosa”, which released a CD with works by Georg Philipp Telemann in 2012.
Stefania Giusti, Principal Oboe of the Teatro Massimo “Vincenzo Bellini” in Catania, was born in Florence where in 1985 she graduated in Oboe with full marks at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory under the guide of M. Gaetano Patroniti. In the same year she was a finalist in the selections for the European Community Youth Orchestra.
Subsequently she specialized with Gordon Hunt, Luca Vignali and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana of Siena with Hans-Jörg Schellenberger. She won several prizes in national and international competitions including the Special Prize at the 11th edition of the “Caltanissetta International Competition” with the “Bellinian Wind Quintet”.
She has recorded for “Rodolphe Production” and made recordings for RAI. As a soloist she has collaborated with various orchestras, including the Camerata Polifonica Siciliana, I Nuovi Cameristi Italians, the Orpheus Ensemble, Stesichoros Chamber Orchestra, giving concerts for important Associations and Festivals such as Amici della Musica of Ferrara and Cortona, Accademia Barocca e Banner of Rome, Noto Musica International Festival, at Villa Rufolo for the Concert Society of Ravello, the Bellinian Festival of Catania etc. She has made several tours in Italy and abroad (Lithuania, Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia, Argentina, Japan, Norway), by collecting public and critical acclaim everywhere. As first oboe she collaborated with the Orchestra del Collegium Musicum of Bamberg in Germany, with the Teatro dell’Opera of Rome and with the Orchestra Laurentian Medicea of Florence
Sue Böhling fell into the music world by accident whensh was handed an oboe at her secondary school.
It was a late start to learning the oboe at 15 years old, but it quickly became a major part of her life. She studied with John Anderson and on gaining a place at the Academy studying with Tess Miller and George Caird, she won numerous prizes and scholarships and was offered opportunities to study abroad, including a place at Yale. Before leaving the Academy Sue was offered the cor anglais position with the Royal Ballet, where she combined working for the Royal Opera House and Royal Ballet with a busy freelance career, working regularly with all the London orchestras covering a vast variety of the orchestral, chamber and solo repertoire on both oboe and cor anglais.
She joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1996 as the principal cor anglais player and can be heard on many classical recordings as well as numerous film and television soundtracks. She enjoys the travel and opportunities to perform in some of the best concert halls across the globe but loves living in central London and relishes her spare time at home with her husband, family and friends.
Sue is a dedicated teacher at the Academy and is proud to see some of her recent students go on to flourish in the music business.
Suzie Thorn is the principal oboe with the RTE Concert Orchestra.
Dora Proud is the lecturer of oboe at the University of Idaho where she performs with the Northwest Wind Quintet and LHSOM Double Reed Duo and teaches undergraduate and graduate studio oboe and courses in aural skills and music appreciation. Her research focuses on commissioning and performing chamber music from underrepresented composers.
Dora is a Howarth Artist and performs on their LXV oboe and XL English horn.
With her husband and saxophonist Joseph Proud, she formed the Proud Duo in 2016, with the goal of expanding the repertoire for their unique instrumentation by combining their different cultural backgrounds. Since then, they have given featured performances at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Granada, Spain (Included the World Premiere of Devojacko kolo by Stanislava Gajic), the College Music Society Northeast Regional Conference at Temple University in Philadelphia, the International Woodwind Symposium at Sam Houston State University, Texas in 2018 (where they were the first prize winners of the Young Artists Competition), the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial National Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio (Included the World Premiere of Dva Gledista by Brian Kershner), the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors in Montevallo, Alabama (Included the World Premiere of Dawn to Dusk by Filipe Leitao), North American Saxophone Alliance Region 6 Conference in Valdosta, Georgia and many other festivals.
Dora has performed throughout the USA, Europe, Israel and Turkey as a member of chamber ensembles, orchestras and as a soloist. Before moving to the USA, she was a member of the Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with Connecticut Lyric Opera, Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Tuscaloosa Symphony, Columbus Ballet, Sarajevo Philharmonic, Banja Luka Philharmonic, Maribor International Orchestra, Camerata Academica Novi Sad, Orfelin Symphony Orchestra, Kotor Art Festival Orchestra and many others.
In 2019 she presented a lecture and performance at the International Double Reed Society Conference on Benjamin Lees’ Oboe Concerto at the University of South Florida in Tampa. On the Second Annual IDRS Virtual Symposium she presented a recital of female composers for oboe and bassoon with Javier Rodriguez, D.M., premiering works by Nansi Carroll and Jenni Brandon. In 2007 and 2010, she won the Music Academy’s Annual Concerto Competition at the University of Novi Sad and was selected to play Concerto for Two Oboes by Antonio Vivaldi and Bellini’s Oboe Concerto with the Academy Orchestra. She also performed the Cimarosa Oboe Concerto with the Belgrade Chamber Orchestra Orpheus and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds with the Stanislav Binicki Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in numerous competitions and won various awards for solo playing at Serbian national oboe competitions. During her studies she played in masterclasses for renowned oboists Alex Klein (Chicago Symphony), Caroline Hove (Los Angeles Philharmonic) and Sherry Sylar (New York Philharmonic).
Dora completed her Doctor of Musical Arts in oboe performance at the University of Alabama, where she was a graduate teaching assistant for the oboe studio. She also earned a Master of Music in oboe performance from the University of Belgrade and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Additional studies include the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, Slovenia, which she attended as a scholarship recipient, and Columbus State University, where she earned an artist diploma.
Tim Roberts is a member of the South African Symphony Orchestra.
Timothy Watts studied at Cambridge University and the Royal College of Music where he won an exhibition, the Countess of Munster and Myra Hess awards and the Joy Boughton Prize for oboe. In addition to guest appearances as Principal Oboe with the English National Opera, BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Timothy has played with the Welsh National Opera, frequently as Principal Oboe, and has also worked with many of London’s leading symphony and chamber orchestras as well as playing for film sound tracks and West End shows.
Timothy is is a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and is Principal Oboe for English Touring Opera and Southern Sinfonia. He has been Principal Oboe of the City of Oxford Orchestra for ten years.
Tom Owen who was born in England received his musical education at the Purcell School of Music, at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Hanover Musikhochschule with Klaus Becker. At the age of 19 he won the “Royal Academy of Music Oboe Prize”, which was followed by many others. He regularly appears as solo oboist with leading orchestras such as the Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Staatskapelle Dresden.
He is in great demand as a chamber musician as well as a soloist. For instance, he performed Bach’s Double Concerto for Oboe and Violin with Nigel Kennedy at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, gave multiple performances of Fischer’s Oboe Concerto with the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic under Reinhard Goebel, as well as Strauss’ Oboe Concerto and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante at the Cologne Philharmonic with the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne under principal conductor Markus Stenz. In addition, he has given recitals at the “Beijing International Oboe Festival 2014” and the “International Double Reed Convention 2015” in Tokyo.
Tom Owen regularly gives masterclasses at the Orchesterzentrum NRW, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music (England), the Festival “Duchi d’Acquaviva” in Atri (Italy) and the Central Conservatory Beijing (China). He is a regular guest with the Linos Ensemble, founder of the Kölner Kammersolisten, who got their first recording contract with MDG in 2014, and founding member as well as 2nd chairman of the association “Kammermusik für Köln”. In 2015 he was appointed Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM). Tom Owen has been principal oboist of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne since 2006.
Victoria Walpole is a member of the BBC Concert Orchestra