Dr. Christa Garvey

Oboist Christa Garvey is a frequent recitalist, orchestral oboist, and chamber musician.  Solo and chamber music engagements have taken her across the US and abroad in Germany and Japan and on the Live from the Chazen recital series broadcasts on Wisconsin Public Radio. She performs regularly as a recitalist at International Double Reed Society Conferences, and has presented at conferences for the College Music Society and the National Association for College Wind and Percussion Instructors (NACWPI), and as a visiting guest artist on college campuses throughout the United States.

Dr. Garvey continually questions what it means to be a modern 21st century musician and has made exciting transformations in the areas of entrepreneurship, pedagogy, and innovation. For instance, as a founding member of the Virtualosity Ensemble in 2011, she used technology to rehearse in an online environment in real time while the members were over 500 miles apart. Devoted to creating new and unique performing experiences in unexpected locations, she has served as the Chief Instigating Officer of the Notorious Ensemble, joining university faculty performers and select students for innovative projects. Recent performances include outreach work in Minneapolis and Chicago area schools, and a project that combined works by student composers with movement art by an aerialist dance troupe.  Other projects include pedagogical demonstrations on Youtube, a well-regarded blog about oboe pedagogy (www.theoboist.blogspot.com), and Oboe For Everyone (www.oboeforeveryone.com), a network of teachers and teaching and learning resources with participants from around the globe.

Dr. Garvey has long been a champion of performing and teaching music of traditionally underrepresented composers and upcoming projects tie together these interests by creating resources to diversify the pedagogical canon. She holds the position of Professor of Oboe at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, where she has taught since 2003. Her degrees are from Indiana University and the University of Colorado and her major teachers are Marc Lifschey, James Brody, and Elaine Douvas.

In her free time, Dr. Garvey enjoys being outside, whether that means commuting around town by bike, training for an ultra trail marathon, or enjoying a sunrise kayak paddle. She has sought out a wide array of outdoor adventures, including running/camping through the mountains of New Hampshire on the Appalachian Trail, swimming with hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos Islands, kayaking with bears and whales in S.E. Alaska, or exploring the nesting colonies of penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula.