Biography
Canadian oboist Aleh Remezau is renowned for his “sensuous and exuberant” performances (The Millbrook Independent), “incredibly expressive” playing (Vancouver Sun), and “plaintive splendour” at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Toronto Star). Having established himself as a sought-after orchestral musician, he has performed in major Canadian venues as well as concert halls in the United States, Austria and the United Kingdom. He has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as well as guest Principal Oboe with the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. He appears regularly with the Esprit Orchestra, performing as both Principal Oboist and solo English horn.
After joining the Hamilton Philharmonic in 2020 as Principal Oboe, Mr. Remezau’s playing has been highlighted in major works such as Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite and Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazade. During his first season, he was a featured musician on the orchestra’s video broadcasts of Mozart’s Oboe Quartet and Tomasi’s Evocations for Solo Oboe. Since then, he performed the Concerto for Oboe and Strings by Ralph Vaughan Williams, J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin, and Brandenburg Concerto No. 2.
Mr. Remezau has cultivated a deep and ongoing relationship with the National Ballet of Canada, where he has served as Guest Principal Oboe across many of the company’s most celebrated productions — including Giselle, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake. He has since joined the orchestra as a permanent member of the oboe
section, proud to deepen his relationship with one of Canada’s most distinguished performing arts institutions.
Mr. Remezau was an inaugural member of The Orchestra Now (TON) – a training orchestra based at Bard College, New York. With TON, he was a frequent performer at Alice Tully Hall, The Metropolitan Museum, and Carnegie Hall. In 2018, he was one of select few musicians invited to perform at the renowned Grafenegg Festival in Austria. While living in New York City, he has performed numerous times on oboe and English horn with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of world class conductors including Jaap van Zweden, Manfred Honeck, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Neeme Jarvi and others. With Alan Gilbert, the New York Philharmonic’s music director at the time, Mr. Remezau can be heard on their 2017 Grammy nominated recording of Christopher Rouse’s Symphony No. 4.
Mr. Remezau performs extensively outside of the orchestra, seeking out different ways to connect and share his art with audiences. As an active chamber musician, he has performed in festivals including the Ottawa Chamberfest, Scotia Festival, Sweetwater Music Festival and Big Lake Festival. As a member of The Happenstancers, an adventurous Toronto-based chamber ensemble featuring “an obscene amount of talent” (The WholeNote), Mr. Remezau has brought “considerable virtuosity” to works for oboe and English horn by Oliver Knussen and Elliott Carter, presenting concerts hailed as “bizarrely eclectic, ...very intriguing and rewarding” (John Gilks, operaramblings).
As a member of the Poulenc Trio, Mr. Remezau has toured extensively across Canada, the United States and South America — performing in Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Colombia — as well as Spain, where the ensemble appeared at the Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao, one of the world’s most celebrated chamber music series. Deeply committed to expanding the repertoire for oboe, bassoon and piano trio, the Trio has commissioned works by American composer Viet Cuong — whose music, described as “wildly inventive” by The New York Times, has been performed on six continents and at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. The ensemble has also released recordings of Poulenc’s songs in arrangements for their distinctive instrumentation. Their performances have earned wide critical acclaim, with The New York Times praising their “elegant rendition” of Piazzolla’s tangos and The Washington Post commending them for an “intriguing and beautifully played program” exuding “convincing elegance, near effortless lightness, and grace.” Their concerts have been featured on American Public Media’s Performance Today, and their recordings are regularly broadcast around the world.
He has also performed as a pit musician on Broadway in the musical Wicked, Mirvish’s production of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 as well as the Shaw Festival.
Aleh Remezau began his musical studies on piano, and his study of the oboe at fifteen. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Manhattan School of Music. He is an alumnus of The Music Academy of the West and Domaine Forget.