Faculty Bio: Alina Plourde

Alina Plourde performs frequently on oboe and English horn with Symphoria, Syracuse’s professional orchestra, as well as with other Central New York groups, including the Society for New Music, Tri-Cities Opera, and the Binghamton Philharmonic.  She is a founding member of the New Leaf Ensemble, a chamber music group that incorporates improvisation into classical music performances.  She has also played chamber music with the Treehouse Musicians, the Summit Trio, the Madera Oboe Trio, and the Front Porch Quintet.  A supporter of new music, Alina has written several grants to commission and perform new chamber music works from local composers. 

Alina received her bachelor’s degree in music performance and music education at the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Richard Killmer, and also spent a year in Norway at Toneheim Folkehøgskole where she studied oboe with Håvard Norang of the Oslo Philharmonic.  Alina completed her master’s and doctorate degrees in music performance from the University of Illinois, where she studied with Nancy King.  She is a graduate of Music for People, an organization founded by Grammy-award-winning cellist and improvisor David Darling that teaches free improvisation in a way that is open to musicians from all backgrounds and genres and people with all different levels of musical experience.

Alina is the oboe instructor at Syracuse University and at Onondaga Community College, where she has also taught improvisation. She teaches music to grades 1-6 at the Montessori School of Syracuse, works with private students, and is a regional staff member for Music for People, also helping run their Collab Lab, which brings people together from all over the world to compose and record music together.