Oboe

Karen hosmer, Principal oboe

Albany Symphony principal oboe, Karen Hosmer, also plays oboe and English horn with the Springfield, MA Symphony and is principal oboe of the Kinderhook Broad Street Orchestra. She is a professor in the SUNY Schenectady School of Music where she was honored with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. She has been a concerto soloist in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and, in Lithuania, where she recorded Frank McCarty’s Concerto for Oboe and Chamber Orchestra. She has received honors in the Gillet International Oboe Competition, the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the Coleman Competition. She has performed with local oratorio groups, Saratoga Opera and Glimmerglass Opera and maintains a private studio in Schenectady. Dr. Hosmer earned her DMA from Temple University and her BMUS degree from the Oberlin Conservatory.

Grace Shryock

A performer in high demand, Grace Shryock is a member of the Boston Lyric Opera, the Springfield Symphony, and the Albany Symphony. Additionally, Ms. Shryock was the Acting English Horn of the New York Philharmonic for four years, and was the English Horn soloist in their performance of Aaron Copland's "Quiet City." She also served as the Acting Principal English Horn and Assistant Principal Oboe with the Richmond Symphony. She has made appearances with the Boston, St. Louis, Baltimore, New Jersey, and Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestras, the Boston Pops, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Ballet, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and The Knights, as well as many other orchestras on the East Coast. 

She can be heard on recordings by the New York Philharmonic, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Albany Symphony Orchestra — for which she served as principal oboe in the Grammy-nominated recording of Christopher Rouse’s Kabir Padavali — as well as in the scores to numerous feature films and television shows.

Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ms. Shryock studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory. Ms. Shryock teaches oboe and English Horn at Berklee College of Music, and has served as an Associate Oboe Teacher at the Manhattan School of Music, and was the Oboe Instructor at Mannes School of Music and Virginia Commonwealth University. She has conducted both playing, audition, and reedmaking master classes at the Mannes School of Music, New York University, Cornell University, and Brooklyn College. She is also the founder of the Storytime Quintet, which specializes in bringing classical music to children. 

When Grace is not playing her instruments or making reeds, she is busy spending time with her husband and two daughters, who are constantly reminding her of how many amazing and often overlooked details there are in the world!