Stephen Key is an oboist, composer, arranger and pedagogue in the Washington, D.C., metro area. A member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, professor Key began his studies on piano and voice with his mother when he was only three. He landed on studying the oboe in the public school band program in Ada, Oklahoma. Like many young oboists, at eleven he didn’t want to play an instrument that everyone else was playing.

Mostly an oboist, Key is the principal oboe for the New Orchestra of Washington (NOW), and is currently adjunct assistant professor of oboe at Shenandoah Conservatory. In addition to concerto performances with NOW, Key arranged and performed Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin about which New York critic, Oberon’s Grove, said, “gorgeous performance . . . terrific, notable solos . . . rich, warm tone.” As a soloist, he has performed with the New Orchestra of Washington, Washington Chamber Orchestra, Washington Master Chorale, University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, and Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. Orchestral work includes regularly performing with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, but he has also played with the National Symphony, Austin Symphony in Texas, Richmond Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Roanoke Symphony and Opera, The Washington Chorus, Choral Arts Society of Washington, Virginia Opera, the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio, and the New World Symphony. Also, he has recorded with Grammy Award-winning studio Sono Luminus, the Centaur Label, and Albany Records.

Other professional highlights include being the principal oboist for the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival since 2023, and joining the performance faculty for the Chamber Music Conference of the East where he holds the Patricia Stenberg Oboe Chair. Professor Key loves to collaborate with international artists, and will be recording in Switzerland in October with award-winning Italian pianist, Matteo Cardelli, producing adaptations of French chanson for oboe of Boulanger and Messiaen.

Key studied at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Texas at Austin. He has worked with Rebecca Henderson, James Caldwell, Rudolf Vrbsky, Carol Stephenson, James Moseley, Richard Killmer, Elaine Douvas, and Katherine Needleman.