Diana Doherty: From a hand-me-down instrument to international acclaim
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Diana Doherty always had a hunger for music.
Promised a violin for her sixth birthday, she wrangled it a month early; a year later, she was playing the piano.
“I wanted to play everything when I was a kid. I had lots of big brothers and sisters and they all played different instruments,” says Diana. “I always wanted to have a turn.”
But it was her fascination with the oboe that led to an international performing career.
“When I was eight, I decided I really wanted to play a wind instrument. One of my older brothers had played the oboe. I thought it was really quirky, it’s not something a lot of people play. Mum said, ‘well, I guess if you can get a sound out of that…’”
The rest is history.
Diana Doherty. Credit: Christie Brewster.
As Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Artist in Focus, Diana has performed a range of oboe repertoire in the capital, showcasing the unusual timbre of this lesser-known woodwind instrument.
In April, Diana performed Nigel Westlake’s Spirit of the Wild with the CSO – a work composed for her.
“[Nigel] was really collaborative in the composition process. He started off by asking me to improvise. Even though I was terrible at it, it was really fun and gave him an insight into the kind of things that oboes do naturally…[the work] is very virtuosic and colourful.”
Spirit of the Wild was co-commissioned by Symphony Services International and the late Justice Jane Mathews AO–the first Australian woman appointed to the NSW Supreme Court and “an absolutely remarkable woman…a very lively participant in the process”, according to Diana.
It was fitting Diana would perform Spirit of the Wild in Canberra. Despite the cold (she’s a Brisbane local), she’s moved by the landscape.
“The way that nature is all around you, somehow…I really like coming here.”
Canberra is also home to Diana’s brother, John, whose hand-me-down oboe was her introduction to the instrument. “I always like to give him a shout out!”
Next week, Diana returns to perform not one, but three oboe concertos as part of the Canberra Weekly Classic Afternoon–a concert she will also direct.
“It’s one way to really get to know the oboe,” she jokes. “Will I still stand, alive, breathing at the end?”
“I’m really looking forward to it, that sense of intimacy and the slightly smaller group – really connecting with the audience and with beautiful music.”
the essentials
Diana Doherty masterclass
Friday 13 September from 3 pm – 6 pm
Big Band Room, ANU School of Music
Free and open to the public
Presented by the CSO in collaboration with the Open School of Music
Canberra Weekly Classic Afternoon
Saturday 14 Septembert 2 pm
Llewellyn Hall, ANU School of Music
Tickets $29 – $95
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