Zachary Allen, oboe

Meet Zachary

Zachary performs on Show 416.

Zachary Allen (oboe), 17, hails from Skokie, Illinois, and is a junior at Niles West High School. He studies oboe with Erica Anderson at the Music Institute of Chicago, where he is currently a Merit Scholar. He has been a fellow of the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative since 2019, and is currently Co-Principal Oboist of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. Zachary has been named a first prize winner in a number of international competitions, including the 2020 Music and Stars Awards, the 2020 Canadian International Music Competition, the 2020 Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition, the 2020 Great Composers Competition (Best Saint-Saens Performance), and the 2020 American Fine Arts Festival, which resulted in an invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Most recently, Zachary was selected as the winner of the Winds and Percussion category for the 2020 Midwest Young Artists Walgreens National Concerto Competition, and the Winds Division of the 2021 DePaul Concerto Festival For Young Performers. In 2019, Zachary attended Interlochen Arts Camp and served as Principal Oboist for both the Intermediate Orchestra and Wind Symphony. In 2021 he returned to
Interlochen Arts Camp as a member of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. During the summer of 2020, Zachary participated in a program run by Project 440, completing a six-week youth leadership course for musicians. He went on to serve on the Teen Advisory Committee for the Chicago 2020 Virtual Teen Arts Leadership Summit. In his free time, Zachary enjoys cycling, volleyball, and travel.

Zachary is a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist.
Scholarship Year: 2022