Kimberly Bryden has been Principal Oboist, frequent soloist, and featured chamber musician of The Toledo Symphony since 1985. She has appeared as soloist on the Classics, Mozart and More, and the Neighborhood Series.
Prior to joining the TSO, Ms. Bryden performed for two seasons as principal oboe of the Canton Symphony Orchestra. Since that time she has had the opportunity to perform with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, and the Detroit Chamber Winds. In October of 2002, she was invited to perform as principal oboe with the Baltimore Symphony for a week and later that year performed for two weeks as principal with the Richmond Symphony. Ms. Bryden has been featured on over twenty Windham Hill recordings with Toledo composer Tim Story, including this year’s release, A Windham Hill Christmas II. She is an active teacher and is on the faculty of The University of Toledo.
In l979, Ms. Bryden was among five winners of the New York Philharmonic Young Artists’ Competition and was awarded the honor of performing as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Zubin Mehta. In l986, she was a prizewinner in the Lucarelli International Oboe Competition at Carnegie Hall; she toured the East coast with the Cleveland Orchestra that same year.
Ms. Bryden received her high school degree from The Interlochen Arts Academy and upon graduation was the recipient of the highest award given, the Fine Arts Award. She earned her bachelor and master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with John Mack of the Cleveland Orchestra.
For eight summers she served as principal oboe on the faculty at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. In 2000, Ms. Bryden performed for a month with the Grand Tetons Festival Orchestra alternating as principal and second oboe. Other festivals attended include Aspen, Sarasota, Colorado Philharmonic, Pine Mountain, Music Academy of the West and Basically Bach Music Festival in Anchorage, Alaska.