Praised for her “intimate and evocative” playing (The WholeNote) and “remarkable displays of virtuosity” (Textura), Canadian oboist Dr. Heather Macdonald is internationally sought after as an orchestral and chamber musician. Currently based in Iowa City, Heather is the Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Iowa Voxman School of Music. Previous teaching appointments include Oklahoma State University and McMaster University (Canada). She has performed with ensembles across North America including the Tulsa Symphony, Wichita Grand Opera, Colorado Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Niagara Symphony, Windsor Symphony, Ontario Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, Wheeling Symphony, Bermuda Chamber Music Festival, and many more. As a soloist, she regularly commissions and premieres new works for oboe, with previous projects funded by grants from the International Double Reed Society (IDRS)’s 50 for 50 Project, Canada Council for the Arts, and Ontario Arts Council, and premiered at SoundSCAPE Festival and the IDRS Symposium. Her 2024 solo debut album, That Place, Darling, features several of these new commissions as well as fresh takes on classics. A passionate advocate for musicians’ wellness, Heather has published her musicians’ health research in Frontiers in Psychology and International Journal of Music Education and presented at the Performing Arts Medicine Association, International Symposium on Performance Science, Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare, and International Double Reed Society conferences. Heather holds degrees from the University of Toronto (DMA), University of Colorado Boulder (MM), Glenn Gould School (Artist Diploma), and University of Ottawa (BMus), and her primary teachers include Sarah Jeffrey (Toronto Symphony), Peter Cooper (Colorado Symphony), Richard Dorsey (Toronto Symphony), and Charles Hamann (National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada). She is a registered yoga teacher, and when not playing the oboe, she enjoys teaching and practicing yoga.