Amanda Hardy, oboe, joined the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra as principal oboe in November 2013 where she occupies the Clinton Graffam Chair. As a recipient of the Gillet Scholarship and Tourjée Alumni Scholarship Award, Amanda studied with BSO principal oboist John Ferrillo at the New England Conservatory (NEC).  Amanda was winner of the 2010 Borromeo String Quartet Guest Artist Award Competition and also has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall (2009), the Portland Symphony, the NEC Bach Ensemble, the Drake Symphony Orchestra, and the Des Moines Youth Symphony at age sixteen. In 2006, she won the grand prize for Iowa’s Bill Riley Talent Search, giving her state-wide televised recognition. Recently, Amanda has been guest principal oboe with the Boston Pops, Boston Philharmonic, A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, Emmanuel Music, and the Des Moines Symphony, and frequently plays with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. She is on the faculty of Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, and also teaches at Northeastern University; in addition, she also has several years of private teaching experience on both oboe and piano.

Amanda holds a Bachelor of Music in oboe with a piano minor from Drake University and a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma from NEC. Previous festivals include the Masterworks Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School, and Tanglewood Music Center in 2010 and 2011 where she was awarded the Mickey L. Hooten Memorial Award both summers.  Her teachers include John Ferrillo, Marilyn Zupnik, Anne Gabriele, and Jay Light, with additional summer studies with Elaine Douvas and Richard Woodhams.