A native of Duluth, MN, Dr. Linski received his Bachelor of Music in oboe performance (magna cum laude, departmental honors) from the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) in 2008, where he studied with Laurie Van Brunt (whose teachers included Thomas Stacy, Laurence Thorstenberg, and Wayne Rapier). Following undergraduate work, Dr. Linski attended the University of Houston (UH), where he studied with Dr. Anne Leek (whose teachers included Thomas Stacy, Harold Gomberg, and John de Lancie). While at UH, Dr. Linski earned his Master of Music degree (2010), and Doctor of Musical Arts degree with a minor in music
literature (2015).
Dr. Linski is a frequent soloist on both oboe and English horn. Solo appearances include Ewazen’s Down a River of Time for oboe and orchestra, Donizetti’s Concertino for English horn, Copland’s Quiet City, and Mark Buller’s Letters from the Wilderness all with the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra in Duluth; Marcello’s Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra in D Minor with the Zachow Consort and Players in Houston; Oscar Navarro’s Legacy for oboe and wind ensemble with the Twin Ports Wind Ensemble in Duluth; J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C Minor, Goossens’ Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra, the Strauss Concerto for Oboe in D Major, and Ewazen’s Hold Fast Your Dreams with various UMD ensembles.
In addition to solo performances, Dr. Linski performs with various ensembles and has subbed on oboe and English horn with several symphony orchestras in Minnesota and Texas, including the Houston Symphony, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the Victoria (TX) Symphony, and the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra. He can be heard on the CD So the Night Fall: Music of David Ashley White from Gothic Records.
As a lecturer, Dr. Linski teaches all levels of music history at UMD and has taught courses on Wagner, Debussy and Ravel, the Romantic Period, and Classical Music of 1890-1950. In 2019, Dr. Linski presented his lecture “How to NOT Kill Mozart: Guidelines for Cadenza Composition in the Oboe Concerto by Mozart” at the annual International Double Reed conference in Tampa Bay, FL.
When he isn’t busy trying to help students become better musicians, writers, and teachers, he can be found in his study practicing oboe, writing novels, studying music, or drawing comics for his classes.