CYNTHIA GREEN LIBBY, OBOE

Cynthia Green Libby's earliest oboe training took place at the Interlochen Arts Academy and National Music Camp. She earned a BMA in musicology and philosophy, and a MM in oboe performance from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Arno Mariotti, principal oboe of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She also attended the Hochschule fuer Musik-Berlin on a Rotary International Fellowship, studying with Lothar Koch, principal oboe of the Berliner Philharmoniker, and toured with the Vienna Youth Orchestra.

Following a freelance career in New York City, where she performed with several orchestras including Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the National Orchestral Association in Carnegie Hall, she was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate and Doctor of Musical Arts at the Eastman School of Music. She also earned the Advanced Studies in Music diploma on scholarship at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada.

An advocate of contemporary music and works by women composers, she has had nearly twenty oboe pieces dedicated to her by such composers as Libby Larsen, Joan Tower and Gwyneth Walker. Her solo recital tours of music by American women have been presented to audiences across the USA and Canada, as well as in Europe, Scandinavia, and the former Soviet Union.

Recent performances include a Barbara Harbach premiere at the Women in the Arts Festival in St. Louis, Ukrainian Zhanna Kolodub's Three Fragments at the 2006 International Double Reed Society Convention and a recording with the Slovak Radio Symphony to be released by Hester Park in 2007.

Also active as a critic and writer, Dr. Libby's study of music by women has led to numerous research grants and awards, and her articles have been published in Women of Note Quarterly, The International League of Women Composer's Journal, The Double Reed, Journal of the International Double Reed Society, the Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Before joining the faculty of Missouri State, Dr. Libby taught double reeds at Montana State University-Billings and Rocky Mountain College. She is currently principal oboe of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, serves on the faculty of the Missouri Fine Arts Academy, and as District Representative of the Midwest Double Reed Society.

Selected reviews of her playing include "...a beautiful palette of sounds..." (Free Ukraine News); "...handled the sparkling tunes with panache..." (Springfield News-Leader); "The public enjoyed her as well as they enjoyed her music..." (The NeubrandenburgRundschau); "The oboe soloist, Cynthia Green , played virtuosically..." (The New York Times); "...fantastic clarity and sparkle..." (The Great Falls Tribune); "...a sprightly tone, precisely played..." (The Billings Gazette). Her compact disc, "Daystream
Dances", may be ordered by contacting Vivace Press.

Listen to a Sound File of Dr. Libby's live premiere of Tocanta , by Joan Tower and Shun-Lin Chou, harpsichord.

MUSICIANS