Nancy Elbeck
Principal Music Librarian
Nancy began playing the oboe when she was nine years old, studying initially with her mother Jean Wetherill, herself an amateur oboist. The youngest of five children, Nancy joined her four siblings (all of whom became professional musicians) in the Wetherill Woodwind Quintet and the family performed concerts at various venues in the Philadelphia region. Nancy began her studies with Louis Rosenblatt (former English Horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra) when she was 12 years old and stayed with him right through the completion of her Bachelors of Music Performance at Temple University in Philadelphia. Nancy was participating in the Marcel Moyce (the world famous flautist and woodwind coach) seminar in Brattleboro, Vermont when she heard that her then fiancé, Lance, had been awarded the concertmaster job with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in Hamilton, Ontario. Since that time, Nancy has been a freelance musician in the Hamilton and Toronto area. In 1993, the HPO was looking for a new music librarian and approached her to see if she was interested. Nancy took up the challenge -- and discovered an affinity for the music library. Several years later, she was invited to be assistant librarian in the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Nancy accepted the new position and also stayed on in Hamilton, becoming perhaps one of the only simultaneous cross-border music librarians in North America. She worked at both jobs for nine years as well as continuing oboe performances in Toronto and Buffalo. Nancy is delighted to now be working and living in Ottawa with such a magnificent orchestra and friendly people and truly enjoys focusing her skills on the NACO library.
April 2011
