Aisling Casey

Aisling Casey is Principal Oboe with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and prior to this post was Principal Oboe with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic until its closure in 2013. Her first job straight out of college was as Co-Principal Oboe with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. Aisling has been Guest Principal oboe with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, among others.

She grew up in Ireland's second biggest city, Cork, which has a vibrant (classical) music life and which gave her a solid musical foundation, enriched with a Bachelor of Arts degree at University College Cork, focussing on Music and Applied Psychology. This study was then followed by a Bachelor of Music degree and a Masters in performance in Germany, studying with the renowned oboe professor, Klaus Becker, at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover.

Winning first prize at the Isle of Wight International Oboe Competition (now Barbirolli Competition) shortly after arriving in the Netherlands led to some important concert appearances, including a début recital in London's Purcell Room and performances at many European festivals. She has recorded the Bach Violin & Oboe Concerto with Nigel Kennedy for EMI Classics and has toured with him in the UK and Ireland.

Teaching is a huge passion for Aisling, and she has been teaching at the Amsterdam Conservatoire since 2018. Before that she was for many years professor of oboe at the Rotterdam Conservatoire (Codarts), and gives regular masterclasses abroad.

She loves learning new things and is usually studying something. In 2016 she completed a Masters of Arts degree in Education with a specialisation in Leadership & Management, and before this dabbled in Biological Psychology & Photography.

Aisling qualified as a Body Mapping instructor in 2020 and also completed an Anatomy course at the Peabody Institute, to enhance her (oboe) teaching skills. What drives her the most is anything associated with the oboe and motivating students to become the best they can playing this frustrating but beautiful instrument.

When not oboe playing or teaching, she is closely involved in a number of music related projects. She is one of the founding members of the initiative Splendor, an award-winning, innovative and unique temple for music in the centre of Amsterdam, run by and for musicians from different genres. She is also one of the founding members of the award-winning LUDWIG, a music company formed in 2012 by a group of ambitious & determined colleague musicians and creative thinkers, all well-established in the cultural world. LUDWIG derives its inspiration from its artistic spiritual father, Beethoven, whose entrepreneurship and musical vision were revolutionary. In 2018 they won a Grammy Award with the Canadian soprano/conductor Barbara Hannigan for their first recording together, Crazy Girl Crazy, and their second album Passione came out in 2020 to much critical acclaim.