Douglas Boyd

Who is Douglas Boyd?

Douglas Boyd is a British oboist and conductor. He studied oboe at the Royal Academy of Music, London, as a pupil of Janet Craxton. He later was a student with Maurice Bourgue in Paris. In 1984 he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, which led to his New York City recital debut at Carnegie Hall.

Boyd was one of the founding members of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and served as its principal oboist from 1981 to 2002. During his time with the COE, he developed an interest in conducting, and counted as his first conducting mentors Claudio Abbado and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He also had guidance from Paavo Berglund and Sir Colin Davis. In 2006, Boyd ceased performing on the oboe to focus full-time on his conducting career.

In 2001, Boyd became music director of the Manchester Camerata, his first major conducting post. He conducted several recordings with the Manchester Camerata for the Avie label, including music of Beethoven, Mozart and Mahler. Boyd concluded his Manchester tenure after the 2010-2011 season. Boyd has also served as principal guest conductor of the City of London Sinfonia.