William Aikens is the oboe instructor and assistant department head of the music program at Colorado Mesa University. He is the principal oboist of the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra (GJSO) and has served on the symphony’s board since 2018. In 2022, he helped found the Grand Junction Symphony Academy, which provides affordable lessons to string and double reed students. He has performed and presented at both international and regional conferences, most recently at the International Double Reed Society conference (Flagstaff, 2024 and Bangkok, 2023) and the Colorado Music Educators Association conference (2023). Dr. Aikens holds degrees from Arizona State University, the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, and Duquesne University. He has performed with orchestra across the country, including the Phoenix Symphony, the Tucson Symphony, and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. His teachers include Martin Schuring, Dr. Mark Ostoich, Scott Bell, Jim Gorton, Dwight Parry, Christopher Philpotts and Lon Bussell.
