Melissa Peña

oboe/English horn

Melissa Peña is associate principal oboe/English horn with the New Mexico Philharmonic and associate professor of oboe at the University of Oregon. Peña previously held positions with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra (2002–2011) and the Sarasota Orchestra (2001–2002). Peña has recently performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, and Astoria Music Festival.  Additionally, she has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, Oregon Bach Festival, Kansas City Symphony, Opera Colorado, Jacksonville Symphony, and the Florida Orchestra among others.  

As a chamber musician, Peña is a member of the Oregon Wind Quintet and is a core member/performer of Chatter – an innovative, weekly chamber music and spoken word series in Albuquerque. Peña has performed with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, and Kansas City’s Summerfest.  

She has appeared as a concerto soloist with the New Mexico Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, and the Southwest Florida Symphony. An enthusiastic performer of contemporary music, Peña can be heard performing with Molly Barth and Jeffrey Ziegler on David Lang’s thorn (Cantaloupe Music 2017) and contributed performances to the albums: David Crumb: Red Desert (Bridge Records 2015), and New Millennium Music for Horn (Quadre Records 2014).  Peña holds degrees from the University of Missouri – Kansas City and the University of Illinois studying with Barbara Bishop and Nancy Ambrose King.