Philadelphia Orchestra offers job to new principal oboist

The Philadelphia Orchestra has offered its coveted principal oboist spot to a French-born musician currently based in Stuttgart, Germany. Philippe Tondre, 29, won an audition held Sunday for a handful of finalists for the position. He has been offered the job, but no contract has been negotiated, an orchestra spokesperson said.

Tondre has played as a guest with the Philadelphia Orchestra in recent months. If he and the orchestra agree on terms, he would follow Richard Woodhams, who had been principal oboist from 1977 to 2018 and announced his retirement two years ago.

Tondre has played principal oboe with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe since March 2019, and also played principal with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig from 2016 until 2017, according to his resume. He has also been guest principal oboist with the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestre de Paris.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has gone through a series of auditions and tryouts in its effort to find a successor to Woodhams. Tondre and the orchestra were expected to sign a contract in “due course,” the orchestra spokesperson said.