Conversation with Eugene Izotov and Robert Walters

Conversation with Eugene Izotov (Principal Oboe, San Francisco Symphony) and Robert Walters (Solo English Horn, The Cleveland Orchestra)
Recorded Live on June 20, 2020 via Facebook Live
Cleveland/San Francisco

[@vitolella]

Hello from "sunny" England. I am very grateful to Mr Izotov and Mr Walters for this fascinating interview. All the topics mentioned: Zoom, tone production, recordings, reeds, "pitch stability" ... have totally resonated with me and are all very valuable. Thank you for all the advice. Off to practise. Camilla B

[@donnaswahlan4271]

This was absolutely fabulous! Thank you for a delightful way to spend part of my Sunday afternoon listening to both of you. I experienced it as interesting, fun, informative, thought provoking and "real" (in regard to the life of an oboe player, practicing, reeds, auditions). Sincerely hope you both will do it again. Best wishes to both of you. Many Thanks!!

[@rgombine]

Thanks for lending this insight into some of the silver linings of zoom teaching. As an amateur, the unexpected windfall of the pandemic is in allowing me to actually *have lessons for the first time in many many years, but I have never thought about submitting pre-recorded segments. What a brilliant idea! I also found the recounting of the evolution of Mr Isotov’s tone over the years fascinating. One forgets that great musicians don’t arrive on the professional stage “fully formed”, and so hearing first hand about that process was super interesting. Would love to hear more about structurally the ways in which EI’s earlier reeds differ from the ones he plays on today. Thanks again for sharing this.

[@Oboesolo]

Thank you for watching and for your kind words. In short, my reeds over the past 15 years have a much better balance of stability vs. vibration. There is a much better relationship between the gouger, shaper tip, and geometry of the scrape. This way it's easier for the embouchure to achieve a rounder/darker/resonant tone without compromising intonation.