Richard Woodhams

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Richard Woodhams (born Jun 17, 1949 in Palo Alto, California) is an American oboist and recording artist. He is best known for his current positions as Principal Oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Professor of Oboe at the Curtis Institute of Music.

At the age of sixteen, Woodhams was accepted by the Curtis Institute and began study with John de Lancie. Immediately following his graduation in 1969, he won the position of Principal Oboe with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He assumed the position of principal oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1977, succeeding his teacher. He succeeded de Lancie as oboe instructor at the Curtis Institute in 1986. He is faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and has taught at the Luzerne and Sarasota Music Festivals, among others. Currently, he gives weekly private lessons to the four oboe students at Curtis, and holds weekly wind classes.

Woodhams' teachers include John de Lancie, John Mack, Robert Bloom, and Jean-Louis LeRoux.

Woodhams' students hold principal positions in many major orchestras, such as the Pittsburgh Symphony (Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida), Baltimore Symphony (Katherine Needleman), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Ariana Ghez), Atlanta Symphony (Elizabeth Koch), and New York Philharmonic (Liang Wang).