I recently found myself reflecting on a constant theme in my life – that of teaching the oboe and especially within the conservatoire sector. It is remarkable to think that I was appointed to teach the Oboe at the Royal Academy of Music in April 1984 and thus can look back on 40 years in
Looking back over a busy summer of music-making, I have fond memories of my day at the Gloucester Double Reed Day held at Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham on 2 July. Brilliantly organised by Caron de Burgh and her amazing team, the day was packed with events including masterclasses for oboe and bassoon, chamber music and
Happy Birthday to Howarths of London! It was a truly memorable evening at the celebration dinner in the Landmark Hotel, Marylebone on 25 May. With so many friends there, it was great to have a chance to meet everyone involved at both the factory and the shop in Chiltern Street. Oboists from far and wide
It was great to take part in the British Double Reed Society’s Festival at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on 17 May. There was an excellent attendance and I enjoyed looking in on the workshops by Melinda Maxwell, Emmet Byrne, Nikolaj Henriques and Margaret Cookhorn. The RBC concert featuring Emmet Byrne’s and Nikolaj Hendriques’ brilliant rendition of
I very much enjoyed my visit to the Torbay Musical Weekend on 16 November thanks to the invitation from John Isaac (Chair), Maureen Greenhouse and all the committee. My presentation on the legacy of Léon Goossens was a chance to make use of Jeremy Polmear’s fantastic recordings for Oboe Classics and to play other tracks
Thanks to Diethelm Jonas, I enjoyed two days this month (23 – 24 November) in the Hochschule fur Musik, Lübeck working with Celia Nicklin, Christopher Redgate, Michael Britton of Howarth’s and the Lübeck oboe class. After Chris Redgate’s lecture and recital featuring his 21st Century Oboe and some of the works written for it, I