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Erik Behr
Instrument: Oboe
With the RPO since: 2007
Favorite time of year in Rochester: summertime, outdoor activities: BBQ, Baseball, sitting on my porch
Hometown: Cape Town, South Africa
Drink you're most likely to order at Java's: Rooibos Tea
First music-related memory? I have a comforting memory enjoying Sunday dinners with my family in Cape Town around a large oak table where we would have a pot roast and listen to a LP. Long after those dinners I realized that those memories were of Verdi and other opera composers.
Influential teachers: Bob Atherholt, Richard Woodhams, Martin Schuring
What are your other "hidden" talents? I would NOT say I am talented but I love playing golf.
What other orchestras have you performed with? Houston Grand Opera and Ballet, Houston Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Slovenian Radio, Cape Town Symphony, Haddonfield Symphony
Oddest RPO concert memory ... My G# key fell off my instrument whilst playing a solo that revolved around that particular key and thanks to my colleagues I could use another oboe and nobody missed a step while I switched and tried to keep my wheel on the wagon!
Biography
Erik Behr was appointed as principal oboe of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in May 2007. Prior to joining the RPO, he was principal oboe of the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet. Mr. Behr performed as a guest principal with the Atlanta Symphony, as a guest with the Seattle Symphony and with the Houston Symphony. He also performed at the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, the Spoleto Festival, with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, as principal oboe with the Haddonfield (NJ) Symphony, with the New York Opera Festival, at the Casals Festival, and with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra under Kurt Masur.
In addition, Mr. Behr was the solo English horn in the recording of Honegger’s Concerto da Camera with the RTV Slovenia Orchestra, performed as solo oboe in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante on tour with the Irish National Youth Orchestra, and as a member of the World Wind Quintet performing at the Edinburgh International Festival, Kilkenny Festival, and Maribor Festival.
Mr. Behr was on the oboe faculty at the University of Houston prior to joining the RPO. He has taught master classes and coached chamber music and orchestral courses throughout Europe and America. He received his bachelor’s degree at Arizona State University, his master’s from Temple University and currently is a doctoral candidate at Rice University. His principal teachers have been Robert Atherholt, Richard Woodhams and Martin Schuring.
