Toyin Spellman-Diaz has built over the years a reputation as a world-class oboist. As an orchestral musician, Ms. Spellman-Diaz has performed in the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s and has worked with such conductors as Kurt Masur, Daniel Barenboim, Mstislav Rostropovich, Christoph Eschenbach, and Pierre Boulez.
Ms. Spellman-Diaz is a founding member of Imani Winds, one of the premier wind quintets in the world that gives literally hundreds of concerts a year in places including Carnegie Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Ravinia, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. As an educator, she has taught numerous master classes and lectures in high schools and colleges throughout the United States and has written several “music-telling” plays that used instruments as props and as integral parts of the storytelling process.
Ms. Spellman-Diaz was acclaimed as a "standout oboist with smooth, controlled tone and excellent technique" in the Washington Post when she performed the Goossens Oboe Concerto at the Kennedy Center. She has also performed concerti with Chicago Civic Orchestra, Manhattan Virtuosi, and Antara Ensemble. She attended the Oberlin Conservatory where she achieved her bachelor of music degree and received her master’s and professional studies degrees from Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Spellman studied with Joe Robinson, principal oboe, New York Philharmonic; James Caldwell, faculty, Oberlin Conservatory and former member of the Philadelphia Orchestra; Joe Turner, former principal oboe, Baltimore Symphony; and Alex Klein, former principal oboe, Chicago Symphony. She is currently on faculty at the Precollege division of the Manhattan School of Music.