Igor Leschishin, oboe Igor Leschishin is the principal oboist for the Washington National Opera Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, a post he has held since 1998. Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Leschishin served as a member of the oboe section in the New World Symphony Orchestra (Miami Beach, FL; 1996-1998) under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. He studied with the renowned Joseph Robinson (former principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic).He completed his Master's of Music degree in orchestral performance at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1995, he made his Carnegie Hall debut performing the Vivaldi Oboe Concerto with the New York String Orchestra. He has performed in many prestigious summer music festivals throughout the United States and abroad: Tanglewood, Grant Park, Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl, Innsbruck and Graz (Austria), and Spoleto (USA and Italy). Igor was also a soloist for the Greensboro Summer Music Festival in Vermont where he performed the Albinoni D minor Oboe Concerto and the J.S. Bach Double Concerto for violin and oboe. Leschishin is a native of Ukraine. Igor first studied oboe at the Lvov Music College with Myron Zakopets, and later with Boris Nichkov at the Belarussian State Conservatory. He won numerous first prize awards including the Belarussian Woodwind Competition and the International Woodwind Competition. While in Eastern Europe, he performed solo works by J.S. Bach and R. Strauss with the Minsk Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra and the Lvov Philharmonic Orchestra and served as the principal oboist with the Minsk State Symphony Orchestra and the Mariinsky Theatre Opera Orchestra. He first came to the United States in 1993 as a member of the American-Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra. Igor currently resides in Arlington, VA where he holds a private oboe studio and devotes himself to preparing talented, thriving students. In addition, he is dedicated to fundraising and supporting young musicians throughout Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.