2026 ‘Great Teacher’ ToniMarie Marchioni blends artistry, mentorship

Video produced by UK Public Relations and Strategic Communication and UK Marketing and Brand Strategy. To view captions for this video, push play and click on the CC icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. If using a mobile device, click on the “thought bubble” in the same area.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 20, 2026) — This February, the University of Kentucky Alumni Association honored six recipients of this year’s Great Teacher Awards.

Launched in 1961, the awards are the longest-running UK recognition program for accomplished and passionate educators.

To receive the honor, teachers must first be nominated by a student. The UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award Committee, in cooperation with the student organization Omicron Delta Kappa, then makes the final selection. Recipients receive a commemorative award and stipend.

ToniMarie Marchioni, D.M.A., oboist and professor in the School of Music in the College of Fine Arts, is one of this year’s distinguished Great Teacher Award recipients.

Marchioni said one of her teaching goals is to advance her students to a point where they no longer need her.

“To make them their own best teachers, to help them know how to problem solve, how to practice … instilling in them the understanding of different musical styles,” she said. “So, if they encounter a piece of music down the line that they haven't covered with me, they’re going to be fully equipped to know exactly how to prepare it and move forward, because they’re only going to have me for a certain amount of time.”

Marchioni earned a Bachelor of Arts at Harvard, and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees at the Juilliard School. She is a frequent guest musician on oboe and English horn with orchestras around the country including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Nashville Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra (including the 2016 European Tour), Detroit Symphony, American Ballet Theater and Atlanta Symphony. Serving at UK since 2013, she is a founding member of the Maribo Trio, UK’s faculty reed ensemble. Her first commercial recording Légende: Concours for Oboe and Piano with pianist Kevin Murphy was released in 2022.

Performing is an important part of Marchioni’s life as a musician and a teacher, and she says it helps inform her teaching.

“One of the things that a lot of my students will value about my teaching is that I am an active performer, and for me, I'm the best performer when I'm teaching and I'm the best teacher when I'm performing,” she said. “So, for me, they're completely linked.”

The lessons go beyond simply teaching students how to be better oboists, she said. Marchioni instills in her students the capacity to evaluate themselves and improve on their own, to make them better overall musicians beyond the notes, fingerings and reed making.

“I teach the oboe. That's my job. But so much of my job has nothing to do with the oboe,” she said. “And I think that that's what keeps it so interesting and fulfilling. There's something incredibly special about the relationships that I get to be involved in here.”

To learn more about what makes Marchioni a “Great Teacher,” check out the video and “Behind the Blue” podcast episode above. 

In the coming months, UKNow will continue to share stories featuring this year’s Great Teacher Award winners.

“Behind the Blue” is available via a variety of podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Spotify. Subscribe to receive new episodes each week, featuring UK’s latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists, writers and the most important news impacting the university.

“Behind the Blue” is a production of the University of Kentucky. Transcripts for most episodes are now embedded in the audio file and can be accessed in many podcast apps during playback. Transcripts for older episodes remain available on the show’s blog page. 

Discover how the University of Kentucky is advancing the Commonwealth.

This interview has been edited for time and clarity.