Nathan Hughes

Nathan Hughes is oboist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He previously served as principal oboist of the Seattle Symphony and has made guest appearances as principal oboist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony.

An avid chamber musician, Hughes has performed with the Philadelphia and Seattle chamber music societies, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, and the Aspen, Bridgehampton, La Jolla, Marlboro, Pacific, Santa Fe, Sarasota, Spoleto, and Tanglewood music festivals. He has collaborated with such renowned artists as Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk, James Ehnes, Richard Goode, James Levine, Gil Shaham, and Mitsuko Uchida. He has received critical acclaim for his performances as concerto soloist with the MET Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Seattle Symphony, La Jolla SummerFest Chamber Orchestra, and Verbier Festival Orchestra.

In high demand as a teacher, his students have earned positions in numerous major symphony orchestras. Hughes has presented master classes at the Cleveland Institute, Eastman, Manhattan School, New World Symphony, and Oberlin as well as internationally at the Munich Hochschule in Germany, Seoul National University in Korea, Toronto Royal Conservatory in Canada, and the Poznań Academy in Poland. He enjoys working with young musicians at festivals around the world including the Marlboro Music Festival, Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Domaine Forget Academy in Canada, National Orchestral Institute, New York String Orchestra Seminar, and Pacific Music Festival in Japan.

Hughes is a native of St. Paul, where he had training in voice and piano before starting the oboe. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Master of Music degree from Juilliard. His teachers include John Mack, Elaine Douvas, and John de Lancie.