Ian was born in Portsmouth and started playing the oboe at the age of thirteen. He spent ten years as an oboist with the Royal Marines School of Music until 1982 when he was obliged to retire due to a back injury. He then embarked on an academic career gaining a BA and MA in Modern History at the University of Kent. Ian now runs his own business, a specialist music shop in Canterbury, and combines this with his work as a freelance oboist. Ian’s playing activities include orchestral, chamber and soloist work, as well as being a member of the Crowther Wind Quintet. During the Canterbury Festival 2002, he performed the Albinoni Double Oboe Concerto in F Major with Nicholas Daniel and in 2005 he played again with Nicholas Daniel and Alison Teale in the Canterbury Festival in a Concert entitled ‘The Oboe in Concert’.
Ian now regularly performs as a soloist with the Festival Chamber Orchestra and most recently performed Sir William Herschel’s Oboe Concerto No.2 in C as part of the Turner Contemporary’s new Late Night Nocturne series.