Ray Still

Ray Still is an American classical oboist, best known for his 40 years as the principal (first) oboe of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.He was born March 12, 1920 in Elwood, Indiana, and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. He started studying the clarinet at 14, and volunteered as an usher at Los Angeles Philharmonic concerts, where he heard the Belgian oboist Henri de Busscher, whose “singing” style inspired him to switch to the oboe at 16. His first oboe teacher was Philip Memoli, who played second oboe to de Busscher in the Los Angeles Philharmonic.[1] From 1941-1943, Still was a member of the US Army Signal Corps Reserves and studied electrical engineering at Pacific States University.[2