Camden Christenson Ward is an oboist, epicure, conductor, and educator in Boston with his roots based in coastal New Hampshire. Having pursued a liberal arts undergraduate education, Camden holistically approaches music by incorporating aspects of life into music and vice versa via teaching, sharing, and performing as a soloist and member of ensembles and Boston’s community alike. He is a strong believer that music is a language that communicates unlike any other and brings people together with that power. He wishes to extend that attribute to other domains—especially the world of food and drink.
He has a versatile understanding of music and role as a contributing performer to the Boston music scene. He is regularly asked to work within large orchestras such as the Boston Chamber Symphony, Cape Ann Symphony, Boston Philharmonic, New Bedford Symphony, Atlantic Symphony, and Lowell Chamber Orchestra (LCO) as principal oboe, on English horn, or as a member of the oboe section. Beyond orchestral concerts, he is also seen and asked to collaborate in wind ensembles, smaller chamber groups, with choirs, as a soloist—having won competitions before and throughout his schooling—and in groups outside classical music such as Streetlight Manifesto, within each of which he plays many types of music not exclusive to one style. Specifically with the LCO, he loves frequently working with living composers on world premiers and commissions.
He has performed on world-renowned stages such as Cité de la Musique in Paris and Symphony Hall in Boston but has a particular enjoyment also for more intimate settings. It is in these smaller settings where he is striving to invigorate the music listening experience and make instrumental music more accessible and commonplace again. Of recent he was featured with the Boston Annex Players at an art exhibition in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner, and was selected as a featured queer artist at nathálie—a natural wine bar whose company’s wine program has been repeatedly recognized by the James Beard Foundation—for their Pride Month live music sequence.
Camden graduated summa cum laude from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance and French studying the oboe with Margaret Herlehy along with Nora Cismondi and Philippe Grauvogel during his time spent studying abroad. He received a Master of Music in Performance from Boston University’s School of Music studying with Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra’s principal oboist, Andrew Price. There, he also followed an oboe studio course with and was coached in a chamber ensemble by Mark McEwen, the Boston Symphony’s second oboist. He was asked to teach aural skills at BU for two years, focusing on ear training, dictation, and sight-singing. He still occasionally substitutes for BU’s School of Music. During the academic year of 2022–23 he was asked to return to UNH as a Resident Artist of Oboe and later was asked to teach aural skills courses there.
Today, sought-after for his fun learning environment and welcoming teaching style, he teaches oboe and music theory privately and at various institutions including New England Conservatory at their Summer Orchestra Institute, the Groton School, the Fenn, and at the internationally-lauded Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra’s (BYSO) Intensive Community Program where he also offers beginner oboe workshops. His private students have been admitted to various competitive summer programs, All-State music festivals, as well as recognized universities and colleges. He doesn’t stop adapting and pushing his pedagogy as to always better serve his students through his work such as his currently with the Creative Youth Development Fellowship.
Specifically at BYSO, he is an assistant conductor and woodwind coordinator who coaches chamber music, its oboes, and rehearses and programs works for its various ensembles creating an inspiring, demanding, and motivating platform for students’ growth. In this program he has maintained and grown the Boston oboe community.
The diversity that his background provided him allowed for practice in research, grant writing, the pursuit of interdisciplinary subjects, and other interests outside of music like his for food and beverage. He has had a career in the hospitality industry that started in speciality coffee competition and now spans the network of Boston and New York’s best restaurants. He has been asked to create menus, manage establishments, educate, and has been part of several teams that have been recognized by the James Beard Foundation, Condé Nast Traveller, Bon Appétit, Eater, and Boston Magazine such as Xenia Greek Hospitality’s Krasi — Meze & Wine, and haley.henry for their food and beverage programming.
These connections have led to the creation of Tasting Notes (t.n.) where he and the team of a featured spot create a new casual music and taste-pairing experience, which can be explored through the t.n. tab above.