Oscar Petty was born in Newark, New Jersey and has studied at the Mannes College of Music. Dr. Petty earned a Bachelor of Music Education at Montclair State University and a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Rutgers University Mason Gross School for the Arts. His teachers have included Stephen Adelstein, Leonard Arner, Marsha Heller, Bert Lucarelli, Richard Killmer and Matt Sullivan. Dr. Petty is a Yamaha Artist and gives master classes throughout the United States.
Hailed by the press as a "brilliant and captivating oboist," Dr. 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 Leonard Bernstein described his 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. Dr. 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 the Aspen Music Festival. His chamber music performances have included the Muir and Essex String Quartets, and he has performed under such notable conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Christopher Hogwood, Daniel Lewis and Herbert Blomstedt. Dr. Petty has also served as Principal Oboe for the Staten Island Symphony, Virtuosi de Camera, the Bergen Philharmonic and the Westfield Symphony and as Assistant Principal Oboe for the Cathedral Symphony at Sacred Heart Basilica, under Thomas Michalak. He has premiered five new works for oboe by legendary composer Mario Lombardo.
Dr. Petty made his debut as a soloist at the world premiere 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. Dr. Petty has performed on WQXR classical radio and premiered the Rhapsody for Oboe and Orchestra by Mario Lombardo with the Monmouth Symphony, under the direction of Roy Gussman. His performances have included the International Double Reed Society Conferences at Arizona State University, University of Wisconsin, University of North Carolina at Greensboro and New York University. He has performed as a soloist with the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, Sioux City Symphony in Iowa and recorded Music for Oboe and Orchestra with the Billings Symphony, under the direction of Uri Barnea. He has performed on multiple recordings with the Rutgers University Wind Ensemble and has recorded the music of Lombardo, Haydn, Ulysses Kay and Hanson. Dr. Petty has performed at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey and has presented a clinic at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Petty is Director of Bands and Orchestra at the Cicely Tyson High School of Performing and Fine Arts in East Orange, New Jersey and serves as a clinician and adjudicator for World Strides Music Festivals.
