Amy McKean

Amy McKean is Sub-Principal Oboe with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Oboe Tutor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Her musical education began in Glasgow, where she attended the RSAMD (now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) Junior Academy, studying with Steven West. She then moved to London to study on a full scholarship with Christopher Cowie at the Royal Academy of Music, where she obtained her Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours and the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Following this she was awarded a DAAD scholarship to study in Germany with Christian Wetzel and Gundel Janemann-Fischer (Cor Anglais, Gewandhaus Orchestra) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig. A year later, she was awarded a further scholarship to study for her Masters in Music at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. While still studying in Cologne she took up the role of Principal Cor Anglais with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland Pfalz in Ludwigshafen.

She has played with various orchestras in the UK and Europe on oboe and cor anglais including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Cologne Radio (WDR) Symphony Orchestra, Welsh National Opera and Zürich Opera. She has also played Guest Principal Oboe with English National Opera, Scottish Opera and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Amy enjoys playing chamber music with other members of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and teaching staff at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 with her wind quintet, Flourish.