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Marc Schachman was born in Berkeley, California, and attended Stanford University and the Juilliard School, where he was awarded the B.S, M.S., and D.M.A. degrees. One of the world’s leading performers on early oboes, Mr. Schachman is a founding member of some of America’s foremost period instrument chamber groups—The Aulos Ensemble (1973), The Amadeus Winds (1983), and The Helicon Winds (1994). He has performed as principal oboist and soloist with virtually all of this country’s “original instrument” orchestras, including Philharmonia Baroque (San Francisco), Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Baroque (Boston), The American Classical Orchestra (New York), and the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra (Washington, D.C.). His numerous recordings on historical oboes cover a wide variety of styles and genres, and include the Mozart Oboe Quartet and Bach Cantatas (Harmonia Mundi), the Mozart Oboe Concerto (Musicmasters), Concerti and Chamber Music of Bach, Handel, Telemann, and Vivaldi with the Aulos Ensemble (MHS/Musicmasters) , Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti, Orchestral Suites, Magnificat and B Minor Mass (Telarc),  Wind music of Mozart and Beethoven (L’Oiseau Lyre, Sony) , and most recently, the Schumann Romances for oboe and piano (Helicon), which the New York Times described as “pure magic.” In the fall of 2010, Centaur Records will release a CD of five baroque concerti with the American Classical Orchestra.

Mr. Schachman taught for many years at Vassar College and at the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin College, and is currently on the faculty of the School of Music at Boston University. He has given workshops and master classes at the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music and at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. He has performed at festivals worldwide, including Spoleto, Edinburgh, Goettingen, Perth, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Caramoor, and Mostly Mozart. On the modern oboe, Mr. Schachman performs with the New York Chamber Soloists and the Orchestra of St. Lukes.

Schachman’s association with the the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society spans the past 30 years! He lives with his wife, the violinist Linda Quan (another long-time Smithsonian colleague) in Rockland County, NY, along with his daughter, Nikki, his cat, Spooky, and his Japanese Akita, Shiso.  His son, Toby, spent much of his youth building Lego structures on the floor of the Hall of Musical Instruments during rehearsals, a fitting prelude to his years at MIT.