Catherine Del Russo

Catherine Del Russo received her Bachelor of Music Degree and Performance Certificate at the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Robert Sprenkle. She also received her Masters of Music Degree from Ohio University where she studied with John Mack in Cleveland.

Since then, Ms. Del Russo has performed around the world, beginning with the Eastman Wind Ensemble to the Far East as Principal Oboe. After that, she performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Orchestra Filharmonica de Caracas, and Orquesta Municipal in Caracas, Venezuela. Ms. Del Russo has played with many orchestras in Los Angeles, including the Glendale Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Desert Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, Riverside Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony, and was Associate Principal Oboe with the Honolulu Symphony. Currently, she is Principal Oboe of Opera Santa Barbara, Orchestra Santa Monica, Downey Symphony, Asia America Orchestra, Second Oboe and English horn with the Mozart Classical Orchestra, and solo English horn with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Catherine has enjoyed playing on films, commercials and television shows. She has been a promoter of chamber music and new music in Los Angeles. In 2011, she won the Consortium of Southern California Chamber Music Presenter's with a chamber music trio for oboe, viola and piano. Catherine is the founding member of Lobo Ensemble, a chamber music group, consisting of oboe, violin, and cello, for which she performs recitals regularly. Catherine is Professor of Oboe at Westmont College and Occidental College.

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Catherine, who grew up in Buffalo, N.Y. started playing the oboe at age 9. She was born into a musical family with a mother, a singer, who had a beautiful soprano voice and played and taught piano, and a father who played and taught the clarinet and saxophone, and was a band director. Her sister played the flute and her brother played the trumpet. Their home was always filled with music, from Classical to Jazz and Pop. Catherine decided to become a professional musician at an early age when she performed at her high school with Chuck Mangione. It was an outstanding experience, and there was no going back at that point. She realized she loved performing more than anything else.

After her senior year of high school, she attended the Saratoga Springs Summer Music Festival in New York, and worked with John de Lancie, Principal Oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was an amazing experience, because she had won a concerto competition in Buffalo, N.Y. where the prize was to perform the First Movement of the Mozart Oboe Concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic, eleven times for childrens' concerts. She was coincidentally working on the movement with the cadenza written by John de Lancie himself. Needless to say, working with de Lancie was an extraordinary experience. That fall, she attended The Eastman School of Music, much to her delight, studying with the highly respected Oboe Professor Robert Sprenkle, whom she came to adore, because of his brilliant playing, musicality, and strong teaching ability. She received her Bachelor of Music degree and The Eastman Performance Certificate. One of the added bonuses of graduating when she did, she became the Principal Oboist of the Eastman Wind Ensemble along with her colleagues Mindy Kaufman, Judith le Clair and George Sakakeeny. There started her love affair with travelling, as they took an extensive tour to Japan and the Far East.

After the tour, she attended Ohio University with a Graduate Fellowship and studied with Howard Niblock, and occasionally took some interesting lessons with the highly acclaimed John Mack, Principal Oboist of the Cleveland Orchestra. Returning to Buffalo after receiving her Masters of Music Degree in Performance, she returned to Buffalo and subbed frequently with the Buffalo Philharmonic under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. She also did some freelance work in Buffalo, and performed a run of A Chorus Line.

Despite enjoying the freelance life in Buffalo, she was invited to play Assistant Oboe and English horn, in Orquesta Filarmonica de Caracas, Venezuela. She was then invited to play Principal Oboe in Orquesta Municipal and accepted that contract. As the financial situation in South America declined, she decided to come back to the United States and she won Principal Oboe in Santa Barbara Symphony in Santa Barbara, CA. Her career started to take off in Los Angeles, taking on various other orchestral positions, recording work, chamber music work, and teaching.

The longest running job in her life, and most rewarding in many respects is the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. She started there in 1991, and continues to this day. She was second oboe sitting next to the highly respected studio oboists, John Ellis and Earle Dumler. She has delightful stories about the many years of performing under the direction of John Mauceri, whom was an incredible conductor to work for. Maestro Mauceri afforded her the opportunity to perform the Swan of Tuonela by Sibelius five times at the Hollywood Bowl. She played for so many famous artists, which include the likes of John Denver, Itzak Pearlman, Carol Burnett, The Sesame Street characters: Big Bird, and Miss Piggy. She performed with Earth, Wind and Fire, Jack Black, Patti LaBelle, The Moody Blues, Sir George Martin, Kristin Chynoweth, and the list goes on.

At one point, she took a one year detour to Hawaii, after winning the Assistant Principal Oboe position in the Honolulu Symphony, which was an amazing adventure. In addition, she became the Principal Oboist of the Maui chamber Orchestra, as well. Living in Hawaii and playing with her colleagues in the Symphony is one on her favorite memories.

Recently, Catherine became the Principal Oboist of Opera Santa Barbara, under the direction of Kostis Protopopas, who continues to be an inspiration to her operatic musical experience. She has performed Eugene Onegin, Madame Butterfly, Il Postino, and The Crucible, all in one year.

One of Catherine's joys in life is to play chamber music and solo recitals. She has had many chamber music groups during her time in Los Angeles, and has created opportunities for composers to write music for her and for her chamber music groups. The various composers featured in her repertoire are Bevan Manson, Jeremy Gilien, Kirstin Fife, Cyril Plante, and Jonathan Grasse. She had the opportunity to play with the woodwind quintet of the Assisi Summer Music Festival in Assisi, Italy, which was yet another highlight of her extensive chamber music career.

Catherine hopes that her experiences in her musical life have, and will continue to benefit her students in ways nothing like experience can replace. She enjoys teaching at Occidental College and Westmont College and has several private students. She's looking forward to continuing to perform for many more years to come, in recitals and orchestral concerts for audiences across Los Angeles and the globe.

Catherine plays on a Loree oboe, oboe d'amore and English horn.

My teaching philosophy stems from my experience as a student of music in general and an oboist specifically. In general, I believe that music is one of the greatest creations on this earth. There is something about the sound of music, the vibration of the notes, of the stringed instruments, the brass, the winds, keyboards, percussion, and voices, resounding harmoniously that can take you to another place. When you decide that music speaks to you, as I have, learning an instrument can be one the greatest joys of your life. Because then you realize that you no longer only have the ability to listen to music, but you have the ability to make your own music.

If you care about accuracy, having a good teacher, who will teach you techniques to better your musical abilities and bring out the best in your talents, it will provide the fullest capacity to enjoy playing your instrument. When you learn to read music, study phrasing and technique, you will be given the best opportunity to perform at your absolute highest level, and that is where you will find your greatest enjoyment of having learned an instrument. And specifically, I believe that I can help my students to attain their highest level of playing and teach them to find the joy in playing music through playing the oboe.

In addition to studio recording, Ms. Del Russo can also provide recorded oboe tracks from her home studio.

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