Kathy Halvorson – Past Concerts

A Wisconsin native, Ms. Halvorson is one of the most versatile oboists working today, as both an improviser and accomplished classical oboist.

She was principal oboe with the Symphony Orchestra de Mineria in Mexico City, formerly oboist for the Broadway musical On the Town in New York City, as well as the 2017 North American tour of Les Misérables. She has performed often with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Symphony and New Jersey Symphony Orchestras, Argento Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, and Jupiter Chamber Players, as well as principal oboe with the Berkshire Opera and the Northeast Pennsylvania and Hudson Valley Philharmonics. Ms. Halvorson was also principal oboe with Opera2005 in Cork, Ireland and recorded 12 CDs as principal oboe with the Toronto Chamber Orchestra under Kevin Mallon and Nicolas McGegan.

In 2012 she founded the West Side Chamber Orchestra, dedicated to performance on modern instruments of music of the Enlightenment. They released a CD of Harpsichord Concertos with Christopher Lewis on the Naxos Label in 2013. Her arrangements and improvisations on pop, jazz, folk, and world music can be heard on the CDs Unraveled and Palette with her oboe trio Threeds.

Ms. Halvorson studied at the New England Conservatory, at Rutgers University with Jonathan Blumenfeld and Matt Sullivan, and at the Royal Conservatory in the Netherlands with Bart Schneemann. In Holland she performed regularly with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the the Calefax Reed Quintet, the Netherlands Balletorkest, and many others. She has also worked with the Mingus Epitaph, jazz bassoonist Michael Rabinowitz, and Bjork.

A lover of jazz, Ms. Halvorson studied jazz improvisation with Tim Price during the pandemic of 2020. “No praise is sufficient for the oboe playing of Kathy Halvorson” – Richard Dyer, "The Boston Globe."