Diana Doherty

Notable successes include performing Ross Edwards’ Concerto for Oboe with the New York, Liverpool and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras, appearances with Australia’s and New Zealand’s leading Symphony Orchestras, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Musica Viva, the Seymour Group, Four Winds Festival, Ensemble Kanazawa Japan, Australian Festival of Chamber Music Townsville, and at many international festivals, including Prague Spring Festival, MusicaRiva Festival Italy, Bratislava Music Festival and the ‘Young Artist in Concert’ Festival in Davos, Switzerland.

In addition to her performances as Principal Oboe with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, in 2023 Diana will perform both the Strauss and the Ross Edwards oboe concertos with the Sydney Symphony, appear at Blackheath Chamber Music Festival and in recital at Ukaria, Bundanon and the South Coast Music Society. Last year Diana completed a national tour for Musica Viva with the Streeton Trio and returned to the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, performing the Mozart Oboe concerto.

Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s 2019 ‘Artist in Focus’ saw Diana feature in recital, as concerto soloist, in their Australian Music series and in a performance in which she both played and directed the orchestra. Diana also curated UKARIA 24 (a weekend of chamber music specially programmed by Diana), returned to the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, and performed the Nigel Westlake Spirit of the Wild concerto (composed for her) with both the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and with Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Diana’s recording of this concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was released in early 2019 on the ABC Classics label.

Diana has been Principal Oboe of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 1997, a position she had previously held with the Symphony Orchestra of Lucerne from 1990 to 1997. She was born in Brisbane and completed her Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, where she was awarded the M.E.N.S.A prize for top graduating student. During this time, she also won the ‘Other Instruments’ section of the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition and was named ‘Most Outstanding Competitor Overall’ for 1985. Other awards and prizes include joint winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, first prize at Prague Spring Festival Competition, a MO award for Classical/Opera performer of the year and an Aria for her performance of the Ross Edwards’ Oboe Concerto.

Diana has recently appeared in Martinu’s Oboe Concerto with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C Major and Messiaen’s Concert à quatre with West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young, Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in F major with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Strauss’ Oboe Concerto with the Melbourne and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras, the Queensland Youth Orchestra in the world premiere of an oboe concerto by Australian composer/pianist Allan Zavod, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Townsville, and the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto with Sydney Symphony. In 2017, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of David Robertson, Diana premiered Nigel Westlake’s Oboe Concerto, “Spirit of the Wild”, written especially for her, and repeated this performance with the Australian Youth Orchestra in Melbourne. She also performed with the St Lawrence String Quartet in Toronto, Vancouver and San Francisco, and premiered another new oboe concerto, by Joe Chindamo, at the Queensland Music Festival. In 2018 her engagements included guest appearances with Spirit Ensemble, a newly formed sextet of Sydney Symphony Orchestra musicians, at the Ukaria Cultural Centre in Adelaide, and with Northern Rivers Symphony Orchestra.

Diana’s performances are featured on ten recordings to date: Spirit of the Wild (Westlake) with Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Concertos by Haydn, Mozart, Martinu and Zimmerman with the Symphony Orchestra of Lucerne (released in Europe on Pan Classics); Romantic Oboe Concertos with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under Werner Andreas Albert; Blues for DD (a recital programme of folk and jazz influenced works with pianist David Korevaar), Souvenirs, Ross Edwards’ Oboe Concerto with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Arvo Volmer, Carl Vine’s Oboe Concerto with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Concerto for violin and oboe with Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Works for oboe and oboe d’amore by JS Bach with Ironwood and Linda Kent (all for ABC Classics); and Koehne’s Inflight Entertainment (Naxos 2005).