About Althea
"Creating Art from Life"
Composer ~ Multi-instrumentalist ~ former Oboe Soloist
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Althea Talbot-Howard was born in Africa, but spent her infancy and childhood in England and Australia. She was a choral and instrumental scholar at the University of Cambridge, where she read Archaeology & Anthropology. Postgraduate studies in Oboe took place at the Royal Academy of Music & the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. Postgraduate awards include a Fulbright Scholarship and a two-year placement on the Countess of Munster Musical Trust Recital Scheme.
Based in London, Althea commenced her professional career in 1992, performing as an oboe concerto soloist, recitalist & guest principal with major orchestras until 2017, when she formally retired from oboe performance, owing to a left hand condition. Highlights of her oboe career include Third Prize at the Paris-Ville d’Avray International Oboe Competition in 2007; and her CD From Leipzig to London, with harpsichordist Katharine May. In her Gramophone magazine review, Althea was referred to as 'a superb oboist'. |
Althea's first Composition prize came from the Ora Singers Christmas Gift competition. Bethlehem Ephrathah was recorded in December 2019. Since then, her professional-level recital and chamber works have grown in reach so as to feature, worldwide, in around forty-five performances per annum. Venues range from London's Wigmore Hall and international chamber music festivals in North Yorks, Deal and Ulverston, UK, to concert halls in the United States, Canada and Bangok, and from there to arts venues in Auckland, New Zealand. All can be viewed on the Events Page.
Commissions
Althea's most recent piece is the highly-accessible Three-Ply Yarn (2024), commissioned by professorial staff from Boise State University Department of Music, Idaho, USA. Scored for flute, oboe d'amore & bass clarinet, Three-Ply Yarn premiered on 13 March 2025. Kindly visit the feature page, to find out more about this unusual commission.
Other commissioners include Cuarteto Emispherio, Seville (Seville Cathedral) (2022); The University of Kansas & The Wunsch New Music Fund (The Great Circle [2023] from Trans-Atlantic Triptych); Véronique Mathieu & The University of Saskatchewan (forthcoming); Rachel Becker & Consortium (Fantasia - La Folia) (2023); Conor Bell & Consortium (Byzantion II) (2024) and ABRSM Publishing.
Byzantion I (2022), commissioned by Kathleen Carter Bell, Conor Bell & Stephen Innis, received an American commissioning grant.
Composer-in-Association
Althea has been Composer-in-Association with the Saxophone Studio at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, London, since 2021.
Commissions
Althea's most recent piece is the highly-accessible Three-Ply Yarn (2024), commissioned by professorial staff from Boise State University Department of Music, Idaho, USA. Scored for flute, oboe d'amore & bass clarinet, Three-Ply Yarn premiered on 13 March 2025. Kindly visit the feature page, to find out more about this unusual commission.
Other commissioners include Cuarteto Emispherio, Seville (Seville Cathedral) (2022); The University of Kansas & The Wunsch New Music Fund (The Great Circle [2023] from Trans-Atlantic Triptych); Véronique Mathieu & The University of Saskatchewan (forthcoming); Rachel Becker & Consortium (Fantasia - La Folia) (2023); Conor Bell & Consortium (Byzantion II) (2024) and ABRSM Publishing.
Byzantion I (2022), commissioned by Kathleen Carter Bell, Conor Bell & Stephen Innis, received an American commissioning grant.
Composer-in-Association
Althea has been Composer-in-Association with the Saxophone Studio at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, London, since 2021.
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From Performance to Composition via Pedagogical Works
Having long desired to compose as a child - but frustrated by not knowing how to develop a musical idea – Althea began again in 2014, by writing recorder, violin & piano tutor materials for her teaching practice, followed by pedagogical recital music for her recorder pupils. These latter works were premiered by the children at the Southend Festival of Performing Arts between 2015 & 2018. Ascending from Initial to Grade 7 in standard, several have subsequently been published by different publishing houses, arranged for a variety of instruments. |
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Thus far, eleven original pieces and commissions have been published in the ABRSM Woodwind, Piano & Bowed Strings Syllabuses from 2022, 2023 & 2024 respectively - as listed on the ABRSM page. Following publication of Prelude: The Seafront by Schott Music in February, several more pedagogical publications are due out in 2025.
Professional recital works included on the Australian Music Examinations Board Associate Diploma syllabus (AMusA) can be viewed on the AMEB page.
Professional recital works included on the Australian Music Examinations Board Associate Diploma syllabus (AMusA) can be viewed on the AMEB page.
Multi-instrumentalism
Although she currently no longer plays the oboe – owing to its complex left hand keywork - Althea still plays her subsidiary instruments (the recorder, violin, viola & piano), and sings as a mezzo-soprano.
Although she currently no longer plays the oboe – owing to its complex left hand keywork - Althea still plays her subsidiary instruments (the recorder, violin, viola & piano), and sings as a mezzo-soprano.
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Publishers
ABRSM Publishing, Ltd
Cimarron Music Press
Hal Leonard Music (forthcoming, 2025)
Pantokrator Publications (own label)
Schott Music
ABRSM Publishing, Ltd
Cimarron Music Press
Hal Leonard Music (forthcoming, 2025)
Pantokrator Publications (own label)
Schott Music
Further Information about Althea's Previous Oboe Career
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"A superb oboist" Gramophone
“Althea... was superb in the Albinoni Concerto... a lovely liquid sound, and long phrases effortlessly negotiated” Bath Chronicle "Althea... played with great beauty: her command of tone and technique were breath–taking" British Harpsichord Society “A sensitive and stylish performer” Canberra Times |
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Althea Talbot-Howard grew up first in London, England, then in Canberra, Australia. She commenced recorder studies at the age of six, followed by the violin at the age of nine and the oboe at eleven. Under her teacher Sharman Pretty, at the Canberra School of Music, Althea was awarded the Australian Music Examinations Board Licentiate Performance Diploma (LMusA) at the age of fifteen.
She subsequently returned to England and read Social Anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, where she was also a University Choral and Instrumental Scholar, completing her education at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. Whilst at the Academy she won the Croft Original Early Music Prize and the Helen Read Prize for orchestral playing. During her studies she received a number of scholarships from organisations including the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Ian Fleming Music Education Awards and the Banff Centre. In 1992 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for doctoral study at the Eastman School of Music in the United States.
Permanently based in London 1994 onwards, Althea played concertos at venues including the Proms at Marble Hill Park, the Purcell Room, St John's Smith Square and St Martin-in-the-Fields, undertook repeat engagements with the Milton Keynes City Orchestra, the Bath City Orchestra and the Belmont Ensemble of London, and performed with the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, the Haslemere Musical Society and several other orchestras. In July 1996 she gave the British premiere in London of the oboe concerto The Songs of the Magi by the African-American composer Adolphus Hailstork.
Althea's principal duo partners were harpsichordist Katharine May, and pianist Dominic Saunders. Together they performed for many concert societies, festivals and promoters, including the Hampstead & Highgate and Thaxted Festivals, Brighton Philharmonic Society, Horsham Music Circle, Milton Keynes City Church, Music at Duffield, Octagon Music Society, the London School of Economics, the Universities of Aberystwyth, Birmingham, Brunel, Essex and Warwick. Performances were also given at music clubs such as Ackworth, Brockenhurst, Curry Rivel, Derby, Dolgellau, Evesham, Holmes Chapel, Lyndhurst, Milverton, Radlett and Seaford.
Althea's duo partnership with Katharine May began in 1994, as scholars on the Countess of Munster Musical Trust Recital Scheme. In 1996 they broadcast for both Classic FM and RTE FM3, Ireland, and undertook a concert tour of the Irish Republic, generously co-sponsored by the British Council. In 2003/4 they were featured artists for Making Music's Concert Promoters' Network. Their début CD, From Leipzig to London, was released on the Oboe Classics label in March 2006, received a warm critical response, and has been broadcast on public radio as far afield as New Zealand.
Althea commenced work with pianist Dominic Saunders in 1998. They gave recitals at venues in London and the South-east, for some of the promoters listed above, and in concert series at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge and Milton Keynes City Church, as well as lunchtime recitals at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London; the LSE concert series; and other London churches. Clips of the dress rehearsal for their Cambridge concert in 2009 can be watched on YouTube.
In 2007, Althea fulfilled a long-standing ambition, by entering an international oboe competition abroad - the Paris International Interpretation Competition at Ville d'Avray, near Versailles, which, in 2007, featured the oboe. The predominantly French programme comprised recently-researched eighteenth-century works by Prover, Devienne and Platti; contemporary repertoire by Jean-Louis Petit, Maurice Ohana and Gilbert Amy; and the Richard Strauss Concerto. Althea was awarded Third Prize, and was the first British prizewinner in ten years of open competition.
For several years, she had a busy orchestral career, freelancing as Guest Principal Oboe, Oboe d'Amore and Cor Anglais with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & RPCO, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera House Orchestra, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She also spent several seasons at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, playing Principal Oboe/Cor Anglais in Matthew Bourne's productions of Swan Lake, Nutcracker! and Highland Fling (La Sylphide). Orchestral engagements in the UK have been complemented by international touring to countries including the USA, Australia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain and Eire. During this time, she had the privilege, on several occasions, of performing live for HM the Queen.
A dedicated teacher, Althea ran a private teaching practice for over 25 years; taught at summer music festivals; and gave masterclasses at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.
As a writer, articles and reviews covered oboe-related topics for Double Reed News, and live opera performances.
Althea speaks some French and German, in addition to English.
She subsequently returned to England and read Social Anthropology at Girton College, Cambridge, where she was also a University Choral and Instrumental Scholar, completing her education at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. Whilst at the Academy she won the Croft Original Early Music Prize and the Helen Read Prize for orchestral playing. During her studies she received a number of scholarships from organisations including the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Ian Fleming Music Education Awards and the Banff Centre. In 1992 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for doctoral study at the Eastman School of Music in the United States.
Permanently based in London 1994 onwards, Althea played concertos at venues including the Proms at Marble Hill Park, the Purcell Room, St John's Smith Square and St Martin-in-the-Fields, undertook repeat engagements with the Milton Keynes City Orchestra, the Bath City Orchestra and the Belmont Ensemble of London, and performed with the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, the Haslemere Musical Society and several other orchestras. In July 1996 she gave the British premiere in London of the oboe concerto The Songs of the Magi by the African-American composer Adolphus Hailstork.
Althea's principal duo partners were harpsichordist Katharine May, and pianist Dominic Saunders. Together they performed for many concert societies, festivals and promoters, including the Hampstead & Highgate and Thaxted Festivals, Brighton Philharmonic Society, Horsham Music Circle, Milton Keynes City Church, Music at Duffield, Octagon Music Society, the London School of Economics, the Universities of Aberystwyth, Birmingham, Brunel, Essex and Warwick. Performances were also given at music clubs such as Ackworth, Brockenhurst, Curry Rivel, Derby, Dolgellau, Evesham, Holmes Chapel, Lyndhurst, Milverton, Radlett and Seaford.
Althea's duo partnership with Katharine May began in 1994, as scholars on the Countess of Munster Musical Trust Recital Scheme. In 1996 they broadcast for both Classic FM and RTE FM3, Ireland, and undertook a concert tour of the Irish Republic, generously co-sponsored by the British Council. In 2003/4 they were featured artists for Making Music's Concert Promoters' Network. Their début CD, From Leipzig to London, was released on the Oboe Classics label in March 2006, received a warm critical response, and has been broadcast on public radio as far afield as New Zealand.
Althea commenced work with pianist Dominic Saunders in 1998. They gave recitals at venues in London and the South-east, for some of the promoters listed above, and in concert series at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge and Milton Keynes City Church, as well as lunchtime recitals at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London; the LSE concert series; and other London churches. Clips of the dress rehearsal for their Cambridge concert in 2009 can be watched on YouTube.
In 2007, Althea fulfilled a long-standing ambition, by entering an international oboe competition abroad - the Paris International Interpretation Competition at Ville d'Avray, near Versailles, which, in 2007, featured the oboe. The predominantly French programme comprised recently-researched eighteenth-century works by Prover, Devienne and Platti; contemporary repertoire by Jean-Louis Petit, Maurice Ohana and Gilbert Amy; and the Richard Strauss Concerto. Althea was awarded Third Prize, and was the first British prizewinner in ten years of open competition.
For several years, she had a busy orchestral career, freelancing as Guest Principal Oboe, Oboe d'Amore and Cor Anglais with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & RPCO, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera House Orchestra, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She also spent several seasons at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, playing Principal Oboe/Cor Anglais in Matthew Bourne's productions of Swan Lake, Nutcracker! and Highland Fling (La Sylphide). Orchestral engagements in the UK have been complemented by international touring to countries including the USA, Australia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain and Eire. During this time, she had the privilege, on several occasions, of performing live for HM the Queen.
A dedicated teacher, Althea ran a private teaching practice for over 25 years; taught at summer music festivals; and gave masterclasses at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.
As a writer, articles and reviews covered oboe-related topics for Double Reed News, and live opera performances.
Althea speaks some French and German, in addition to English.
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