The oboist Philip Nodel was born in Moscow where he began to study music at the age of five, working his way though various music schools and colleges before graduating from the Moscow Conservatory in 2002. He completed his postgraduate studies in 2005, and became a teacher at the conservatory the following year.
As well as teaching there and at other advanced music institutions, he organises masterclasses by fellow oboists from overseas as well as oboe exhibition, and travels to high schools around Russia to give masterclasses.
He now performs frequently as a soloist and a member of chamber ensembles, combining modern oboe playing with the study of its older versions.. He is a founder member of Pratum Integrum (‘unmown meadow’), the first Russian ensemble to be devoted entirely to period instruments, and in 2006 set up L’Esprit du Vent, a wind ensemble performing chamber music of the 18th to the 21st centuries. He also appears regularly as soloist or principal oboe with well-known Moscow orchestras such as the Moscow Virtuosi, Russian National Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia and Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and was a member of Alexander Rudin’s Musica Viva chamber orchestra from 2002 to 2010.
He has performed at music festivals around the world, including Innsbruck, Brugge, Utrecht, St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kostomuksha, Pitsunda, Chita and other cities in Europe and the USA. He is also regularly invited to sit on music competition juries in Russia
Philip plays an oboe made by the French manufacturer Loree, a company he has been an advisor to for many year, representing them at industry conferences such as the Double Reed Society.