Jennifer Kirby is a true Midwesterner, growing up in a small town in northwestern Missouri where she stayed to complete her Bachelor of Arts in Music, summa cum laude. She spent her days from a young age doing anything she could with music, from piano and recorder, to clarinet and flute. During high school she finally settled on oboe and is now a freelance musician based in Bloomington, Indiana having attended Indiana University under the tutelage of Linda Strommen and Roger Roe, culminating in a Doctor of Music in Oboe Performance with a minor in Early Music. She performs on a variety of oboes including English horn, oboe d’amore, bass oboe, and Baroque and Classical period instruments. She also has a passion for elevating underrepresented voices and used this as the foundational vison for her woodwind quintet, Prism Winds.
She holds positions as second oboe and/or English horn with the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, and Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. She also performs with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Louisville Orchestra, whom she toured with in 2023. Her love of historical performance flourished during her study with the late Washington McClain and Michael McCraw at IU. She holds the position of second oboe with the Indianapolis Baroque orchestra and plays with the Bach Collegium (Fort Wayne), Madison Bach Musicians, and the Bloomington Bach Cantata project – where she has also served as a director.
She collaborates with ZREO studios (music from The Legend of Zelda franchise) and can be heard on their recent VGMCON award winning album, Fair Winds & Following Seas. She is excited to join her wife, fellow oboist Liza Saracina, in the Owensboro Symphony orchestra. When not spending their time reed-making, they enjoy hiking and time spent watching movies and playing video games.