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  About Lisa  

  Background   

Lisa Febre (nee Smolen) is a 1992 graduate of the Eastman School of Music College Preparatory Program, where she studied oboe with Jonathan Parkes & Richard Killmer.  She holds a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance from Ithaca College where she studied with Mark Hill.  She has also studied privately with John Snow.  She has had the honor of working with renowned oboists Thomas Stacy, Ronald Roseman and Henry Shuman.  She has played under the batons of conductors Larry Racliffe, Craig Kirchoff, Malcolm W. Rowell and Rodney Winther.

 

A native of Rochester, NY, Lisa arrived in Los Angeles in 2010. Lisa spent 5 years as the principal oboist with  the San Fernando Valley Symphony, English Horn soloist with The Moorpark Symphony Orchestra; she also performed on flute with LA Pierce Symphonic Winds. Freelancing throughout the LA area, Lisa continues to find unique opportunities to share her love of music through recordings, chamber music, school demonstrations and private lessons.

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In 2015, she suffered an injury that would ultimately end her oboe career, but always the flexible musician (and yogi), she has taken up the cello and is now embarking on a new chapter of her musical career. She currently teaches beginner cellists, plays cello with a trio comprised of other adult musicians, and has returned to both the San Fernando Symphony and Moorpark Symphony as a member of the cello section.

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In her spare time, Lisa practices and teaches private sessions of Ashtanga yoga. She lives with her husband, composer Louis Febre, in Chatsworth CA, together they have a blended family consisting of seven animals, five of which happen to be human.

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View Lisa's Full Resume Here

  Performances   

Lisa landed in Las Vegas in 2006, and began performing with "Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular" shortly after it debuted that same summer. She also performed with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society, The Nevada Chamber Symphony and The Nevada Opera Theatre.

 

She has performed with the Rochester and Albany Symphonies and spent two seasons as second oboist with the Binghamton Philharmonic. 

 

For nearly 10 years, Lisa lived in western Massachusetts, where she was the English horn soloist in both the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra and the Massachusetts Wind Orchestra. For five seasons she was principal oboist with the Sage City Symphony based in Bennington, VT. With them, she performed Aaron Copeland's "Quiet City" and Bach's Double Concerto for Violin and Oboe.

  Opera & Theater   

Her career in theater began in 1996 when she joined the pit orchestra on oboe/EH in Rogers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella".  Her love of theater has only grown deeper with each opportunity through the years.  She has performed several musicals in the reed seat including:

  • Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular!, oboe, English horn, flute, clarinet 2006-2010

  • Honk! (flute, clarinet, alto sax) 2005

  • H.M.S. Pinafore, Gilbert & Sullivan, a Berkshire Theater Festivals' production  (flute/piccolo), 2001

  • Oliver (flute, piccolo, alto sax, clarinet, oboe) 2000

  • Bye, Bye Birdie (flute, alto sax, oboe) 1999

  • Amahl And The Night Visitors (oboe), 1998

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She also has experience in the opera and ballet theater :

  • Mozart's "Don Giovanni" -- 2nd Flute in the 2006 "The New Opera" production In Williamstown, MA

  • Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" -- Principal Oboe in the 2005 "The New Opera" production In Williamstown, MA

  • Puccini's "La Bohéme" -- Principal Oboe in the 2010 Nevada Opera Theater production in Las Vegas, NV

  • Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker"

    • English Horn since 2010 with Moorpark Symphony, Oxnard, CA

    • 2nd Oboe/English Horn with Albany Symphony, 1998, Albany, NY

  Media  

TELEVISION

Lisa was a prominent performer on oboe, English horn and flute for the last 2 seasons of the hit television show Smallville; along with woodwinds in the underscore, also added vocals to the main titles of the 2011 ABC reboot of Charlie's Angels.

 

FILM

She performed on the soundtracks for Warner Bros. "Yogi Bear" (2010) and "Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer" (2011). She was a featured performer on the soundtrack for the independent film "Super Athlete" (2012).

 

DOCUMENTARY

She received an on screen credit (as Lisa Smolen) for her performances on Oboe and English horn in the documentary "Stone on Stone" (2010).

 

INDEPENDENT FILM

Most recently, she can be heard in the independent film “Bastards y Diablos” which was featured at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival.

 

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