Oboist of the mont of january: Alex Klein
Oboist of the mont of january: Alex Klein
This month, our oboist of the month is Alex Klein. You will see why when you read here about his career and his successes 🙂
Alex Klein is an oboist who began his musical studies in his country, Brazil at the age of 9. He made his solo orchestral debut when he was 10 years old. At the age of 11 he was invited to join the Camerata Antigua, one of Brazil’s foremost chamber ensembles.
During his teenage years he toured and performed as a soloist, recitalist and as a member of several professional orchestras in Brazil. Later, he studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with James Caldwell, earning an artist diploma in music performance.
After a year at Oberlin he won his first prize in the first Lucarelli International Competition for Solo Oboe Players held in Carnegie Hall. He was the second oboist (the first one was Heinz Holliger) to be awarded first prize for Musical Performers Geneva at the 1988 International Competition for Musical Performers in Geneva, Switzerland.
From 1992 to 1994 he was Assistant Professor of Music, whose specialty was oboe and chamber music at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, where he performed with the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet.
He joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as principal oboe at age 30 in 1995. He has performed as soloist with:
- The Chicago Symphony
- Philadelphia Orchestra
- the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
- The Chicago Sinfonietta.
He has recorded for:
- Teldec
- Boston Records
- Newport Classic
- Musical Heritage Society
- Cedille Records
Klein won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental soloist with Orchestra for his recording of Richard Strauss’ Oboe Concerto with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony.
Klein left the Chicago Symphony in July 2004 due to musician’s focal dystonia. During a tour of the Far East with the orchestra, he found his fingers would no longer allow him to play at his finest level throughout a symphony by Tchaikovsky and asked to resign.
He currently performs as soloist and conductor, often with leading orchestras. He served as a Professor of Oboe at his alma mater, the Oberlin Conservatory. He is also artistic Director of FEMUSC (Santa Catarina Music Festival, Brazil), participant in the Sunflower Music Festival in Topeka, Kansas, USA, and conductor of the Saint Barths Music Festival (in the French Antilles).
In June 2016, he was once again appointed principal oboe of the Chicago Symphony.
In October 2018, Klein was appointed principal oboe of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.
