| Biography | Léon Jean Goossens CBE, FRCM (12 June 1897 13 February 1988) was a British oboist. He was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal College of Music.
During the early and middle parts of the 20th century, he was considered the premier oboe player in the world. He joined the Queen's Hall Orchestra (conducted by Henry Wood) at the age of 15 and was later (1932) engaged by Sir Thomas Beecham for the newly founded London Philharmonic Orchestra, but he also enjoyed a rich solo and chamber-music career.
Goossens commissioned a number of works for the oboe from such distinguished composers as Sir Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Rutland Boughton and collaborated extensively with other prominent soloists such as Yehudi Menuhin. Amongst his many pupils were the oboists Evelyn Barbirolli, Joy Boughton, daughter of Rutland Boughton, and Peter Graeme, oboist of the Melos Ensemble.
He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1950 and made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1962.
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