Alex Klein

Alex Klein began his musical studies at the age of 9 in his native Brazil. A year later he made his orchestral solo debut and soon began to play professionally. He went on to be named Principal Oboe of the renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra by its music director Daniel Barenboim and to collaborate with some of the most expressive names in today’s music scene.

Klein has performed as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and in numerous occasions with the Chicago Symphony. As a chamber musician, Klein has collaborated with the Vermeer Quartet, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Barenboim and his Chicago Symphony colleagues Larry Combs, Dale Clevenger and Adolph "Bud" Herseth. Klein is also a regular performer at the Santa Fe and Seattle Chamber Music Festivals.

One of the most awarded oboists in the history of the instrument, Alex Klein was the first oboist to receive the First Prize in the Concours Internationale d’Execution Musicale in Geneva, Switzerland, since the great Swiss virtuoso Heinz Holliger was so honored almost 30 years earlier. Klein also received the First Prize in the F. Gillet and New York International Oboe Competitions and received many academic accolades.

Alex Klein has been recording since the age of 14, and has acquired an extensive list of works recorded in a variety of musical genres, from orchestral music to solo concertos, from chamber music to bossa nova. Klein is also actively involved in the development of his instrument, both by working closely with the F. Lorée factory in Paris in the development of an ever superior instrument, and by extending the technical and musical possibilities of the oboe, often through new compositions composed specially for him.

Aside from his involvement with the Chicago Symphony, Alex Klein is the tutor for the oboe section of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, as well as Professor of Oboe at Roosevelt University and Associate Professor of Oboe at Northwestern University.