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Oscar Petty was born in Newark, New Jersey and is a graduate of Arts High School. He has studied at the Mannes College of Music, Hartt School of Music. He earned a Bachelors Degree in Music at Montclair State University and a Masters Degree in Oboe performance from Rutgers University Mason Gross School for the Arts.
Hailed by the press as a brilliant and captivating Oboist, Mr. Petty has served as Principal Oboist of the Rome Festival Orchestra, and has toured Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Canada. He was one of only four finalists to be awarded an Orchestral Performance Fellowship to the first Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, where renowned conductor Leonard Bernstein described Petty’s playing as “a gorgeous oboe sound.”
He has performed at the New Jersey Mozart Festival, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, and Carnegie Hall. Mr. Petty was awarded a fellowship to the American Conservatory of Music at Fontainebleau, France. He has performed in master classes at the Bach Aria Institute at New York University, American Oboist Conference at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. He also has served as Principal Oboe for the Staten Island Symphony, Virtuosi de Camera, the Bergen Philharmonic, and the Westfield Symphony. Mr. Petty has premiered five new works for Oboe by legendary composer Mario Lombardo of Cranford, NJ. In 2000 he was honored with Music Educator of the Year award from William Paterson University. His students included five Star Ledger Scholars in the performing Arts at NJPAC. He has taught music in the Orange, Roselle, and Newark and East Orange New Jersey school districts.
Mr. Petty made his debut as a soloist at the world premier of the Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra by Mario Lombardo with the Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea, under the direction of Alphonse Stephenson. As a result of that successful performance, he was heard on WQXR Classical Radio. He has been visiting professor at the International Double Reed Society Conferences at Arizona State University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and New York University in 2014. Dr. Petty has performed as soloist with the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, Sioux City Iowa Symphony Orchestra, and the Billings Montana Symphony. He has four recordings with the Rutgers University Wind Ensemble. His solo recordings include Music for Oboe and Orchestra, Billings Montana Symphony, under Uri Barnea and Spectrum, music composed by Mario Lombardo. Dr. Petty in 2017 completed his Doctorate Degree in music at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts. Dr. Petty served as band director at his alma mater Arts High School from 1994-2009. He is currently the Band and Orchestra Director at the Cicely L. Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts in East Orange, New Jersey.