Ian Franklin is Principal Oboist of Orchestra London Canada, and is a lecturer at The Don Wright Faculty of Music, University of Western Ontario.

A native of Victoria, B.C., Ian began musical studies at the age of five, and was appointed Principal Oboist of The Victoria Symphony Orchestra at the age of seventeen. His teachers included Bernard Shapiro, of Seattle, and Ray Still, of Chicago. He has held the position of Principal Oboe with The Regina Symphony, The Colorado Music Festival, and since 1986, with Orchestra London. He has performed with many other orchestras including those of Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Kitchener-Waterloo, The National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the Elora, Huntsville, Westben, Harbourfront, and Stratford festivals.

Ian is a founding member of The Aeolian Winds, long recognized as one of Canada’s finest chamber ensembles. The Aeolian Winds have been frequent performers on CBC Radio, and have toured repeatedly from coast to coast. In 1998, The Aeolian Winds presented five concerts in Taiwan as part of the True North Festival of Canadian art and music. They have produced a number of CDs for IBS Records, CBC Records, and CentreDisc.

Ian has been a concerto soloist with many orchestras, and in recital, including a number of CBC broadcast performances. He has been a featured soloist with The Victoria Symphony Orchestra, The CBC (Vancouver) Orchestra, The Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica de San Luis Potosi (Mexico), The London Community Orchestra, The Woodstock Strings, The International Symphony Orchestra (Sarnia/Port Huron), and repeatedly with Orchestra London Canada. He is a soloist, with Erik Schultz, trumpet, and David Haward, bassoon, on the ebs recording, “Cantabile Virtuos”, with Vladislav Czarnecki and The SouthWest German Chamber Orchestra, Pforzheim.