Jennifer Short – Second Oboe and English Horn
June 2008 - Nicole Laidler

Jennifer Short wasn’t sure what she was getting into when she was assigned to play the oboe in Grade 7. “Picturing the (much larger) bassoon and not realizing the thing came in a case, my main concern was how to get it home in the carrier basket of my bike,” the Ottawa native remembers.

Her band leader had no oboe experience either, so the school arranged private lessons with a teacher who lent Short a proper, wooden instrument. “I was fortunate that I never had to suffer, as many kids do, through playing on a plastic oboe with a plastic reed while getting no effective instruction,” says Short.

Before the year was out, Short won a silver trophy in the Ottawa Music Festival and began lessons with a member of the National Arts Orchestra of Canada, whose concerts she attended with a friend. “It was wonderful listening to such a good orchestra in such a beautiful hall,” she says. “I knew then, barely in my teens, that that was what I wanted to do when I grew up.”

By 15, Short had left home to study at Michigan’s prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy. After completing graduate studies at the Juilliard School in New York City, Short held positions with the Edmonton Symphony and Calgary Philharmonic. She joined Orchestra London as Second Oboe and English Horn in 1992.

“Orchestra London has definitely improved over the time I’ve been here,” she says. “The new players who’ve joined have all been wonderful, and the addition of an annual staged opera has been fantastic.”

Short is married to Orchestra London concertmaster Joseph Lanza. The couple has a seven-year-old daughter, Heather, and recently welcomed Fergus, a Shetland sheepdog puppy into their family.

“There are actually certain advantages to having a spouse in the orchestra,” explains Short. “Who else would understand ‘having’ to practice when it already sounds pretty good, or the unique pressures of performing? And as a family, we do enjoy our summers off with Heather.”

Short likes to unwind on the ice rink and took up skating four years ago so she could join her daughter at the rink. “And in 2003 I underwent surgery for breast cancer. After that grim episode, I was pretty keen to get on with the business of living and I just figured, what am I waiting for?” says Short, who is now a member of the London Skating Club.