Kevin Vigneau
Biography
Dr. Kevin Vigneau is Professor of Oboe at UNM and has enjoyed an international career as an orchestral player, soloist, teacher and chamber musician. A UNM faculty member since 1996, Mr. Vigneau is also the Principal Oboe of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and oboist of the New Mexico Winds.
Principal Oboe of the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra (South Africa) from 1986-1990 and Principal Oboe of the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal) from 1993-1996, he has been a member of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, the Opera Company of Boston Orchestra the New Haven Symphony and a fellow at the Berkshire Music Festival.
Mr. Vigneau has performed as a chamber musician with Music from Angel Fire, the Banff Festival, the South African Broadcasting Society, the Mistral Wind Quintet, the Cassat Quartet, the Kandinsky Trio and the Maia String Quartet. As a recitalist and soloist he has performed in Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, at Octoboefest in Iowa, at International Double Reed Society Conferences in Chicago and Phoenix, in Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Cape Town, the Azores, Taiwan, Canada, and at many colleges and universities in the United States.
His solo CD Oboe on the Edge: Modern Masterworks for Oboe, was released in 2008 on Centaur Records. He has also recorded the Richard Strauss Oboe Concerto with the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa for EMI Classics, the Hidas Oboe Concerto with the UNM Wind Symphony on the Summit label and 20th-century wind quintets with the New Mexico Winds for Centaur.
Dr. Vigneau holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University (1998) where he studied with Ronald Roseman and was awarded the Dean’s Prize for the outstanding member of the graduating class. He also studied with Ralph Gomberg and Laurence Thorstenberg at Boston University, where he earned his BM.
The Cape Times has referred to Dr. Vigneau as “a consummate instrumentalist, who brings to the task technical facility, abundant musicality and a keen intellect.”
Further reviews include:
“The C Major Oboe Concerto followed, with Kevin Vigneau as soloist in a performance that was, quite simply, delicious….Vigneau revealed a beguiling playfulness and lightness of spirit ideal for Mozart. In pure tones and delicate phrasing he revealed the music’s shadows as well as its sweetness. With nimble grace he repeatedly surprised, suddenly pulling back on a line to expose its tender underside, turning each cadenza into a little surprise.” – Albuquerque Journal
“Strauss’ delicious Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra was given a superb performance by Kevin Vigneau, a musical event I have been looking forward to for weeks…sopranos could envy Vigneau his outstanding breath control and phrasing…he excelled in the rapid runs and never sacrificed music for virtuosity. He is so good he doesn’t have to prove anything.” – Argus
“His dexterity was exemplary, intonation secure, tonguing effortless, breath supply limitless.” – Cape Times
“Oboist Kevin Vigneau was the star of this Tanglewood performance.” – The New Yorker
“…from the opening florid theme, Vigneau’s tone ws glorious, his phrasing impeccable. The long soaring lines of the Andante were matched with rapid figurations in the outer movements. A joyous performance well meriting the standing applause freely given to one of the NMSO’s own. – Albuquerque Journal
