John Ferrillo

John Ferrillo joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Principal Oboe at the start of the 2001 Tanglewood season.
From 1986 to 2001 he was Principal Oboe of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute, where he studied with John deLancie and received his diploma (‘78) and artist’s certificate (‘79). He also studied with John Mack at the Blossom Festival and has participated in the Marlboro, Craftsbury and Monadnock chamber music festivals.

Prior to his appointment at the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Ferrillo was Second Oboist of the San Francisco Symphony, and was a faculty member at Illinois State University (1979-81) and West Virginia University (1981-85).

He has taught and performed at the Aspen and Waterloo festivals, taught at the National Orchestral Institute, the Mannes Bach Institute, and served on the faculty of the Juilliard School from 1987 till 2002. John joined the faculties of the New England Conservatory of Music and Boston University’s School of Music in 2002 and teaches at the Tanglewood Festival and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.

He has been featured as a guest soloist with numerous groups in the Northeast, including the Boston Classical Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic, and performed the Strauss Oboe Concerto with the BSO and James Levine in the 2004-05 season.

In collaboration with the late Martha Rearick (who wrote the orchestral reductions) and Theodore Presser Publications, he has written a book of oboe orchestral excerpts with piano accompaniment and advice for audition preparation.
His company, Harvard Double Reeds, innovates in the area of oboe reed-tool manufacture.