Highly regarded as one of Canada’s most prominent oboists, James Mason is the Principal Oboe of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. He came to Canada in 1975, accepting the Principal Oboe position with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, moving to Kitchener in 1979. He has been regularly featured as a soloist with the KWS and has recorded most of the standard chamber music and solo oboe repertoire, along with several new works for oboe and orchestra written specifically for him. In January of 2007 the Gallery Players of Niagara released a CD of works for oboe and strings commissioned for and recorded with Jim, entitled Canadian Oboe Quartets. In 1999 he was awarded the Kitchener-Waterloo Arts Award for Music.

 

In the summer months, Jim is active in festivals across North America. He performs regularly in the Elora Festival and Festival of the Sound. Jim and his wife, violinist Julie Baumgartel, were founding Co-Artistic Directors of the Grand River Baroque Festival.  From 2008 till 2012 Jim was on the faculty of the Orford Music Academy as a performer and coach. He has been invited to be on the faculty of Canada’s National Youth Orchestra and the Banff Summer Festival. Jim has appeared as guest Principal Oboe with the Boston Symphony, Toronto Symphony and Montreal Symphony Orchestra, along with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

 

Jim is on the faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University. He performs on a Yamaha oboe and is a Yamaha Artist.