Melanie Rothman

British Oboist Melanie Rothman is a member of the world-renowned Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1st prize winner of the IDRS Gillet- Fox International Oboe Competition 2021 and professor of oboe at the Royal College of Music, London since 2024.

An experienced orchestral musician, she held positions as solo oboist of the Hessen State Theatre Orchestra Wiesbaden and the Duisburg Philharmonic/German Opera of the Rhein before joining the oboe section of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2022. In addition, she is sought after as guest principal oboist in orchestras all over Europe such as the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Frankfurt Opera and Museums Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble Modern, among others.

As a soloist and chamber musician she has performed a range of repertoire such as concerti by Bach, Martinu and Francesconi, with orchestras such as the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and in venues such as the Wigmore Hall and St. John’s Smith Square. She has performed the world premiere of several works including ’Sul far della notte’ for oboe and ensemble by Leonardo Marino at the Gaudeamus Muziekweek in Utrecht 2019, and ‘Tiny Bright Big True Real’ by Sean Shepherd at the IDRS Conference in Boulder, Colorado 2023.

She is the recipient of numerous awards such as the Royal Academy of Music Leila Bull Oboe Prize 2010 and the Isle of Man Bank Prize at the Barbirolli Oboe Competition 2014. In 2019 she was woodwind semi-finalist of the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition in St. Petersburg, in 2020 was finalist of the Virtual Oboe Competition and in 2021 was 1st grand prize winner of the International Double Reed Society Gillet-Fox International Oboe Competition.

Melanie studied with Nora Cismondi at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris (CRR) and with David Walter at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMDP) where she completed her bachelor studies with honours in 2015. Following that she studied a master’s in oboe performance with Professor Stefan Schilli at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg where she graduated with honours in 2018. In 2021 she completed further studies on a soloist postgraduate at the HDMK Stuttgart with Professor Christian Schmitt, where she was also awarded her degree with honours. She was a member of the Ensemble Modern Academy in 2018-19 and holds a master’s degree in the contemporary music. 

Melanie has a deep interest in early music and studied the baroque oboe with Alfredo Bernardini, Rafael Palacios and Katharina Spreckelsen, and the harpsichord with Carole Cerasi, Virginia Black and Clare Sutherland. She is also a passionate advocate for and performer on the Northumbrian Smallpipes, a traditional bagpipe from the North-East of England, with which she is a national prize-winner and member of the Northumbrian Pipers’ Society committee.

Faculties / departments: Woodwind

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