Harry Vas Dias

Harry Vas Dias (b. January 1924, Amsterdam) is an American oboe maker, former orchestral oboist, the International Double Reed Society member, and the proprietor of his H. A. Vas Dias workshop in Decatur, Georgia. Among the notable musicians and ensembles who performed on his instruments are Marc Schachman, John Abberger, Gonzalo Ruiz, Aston Magna, Concentus Musicus Wien, The Aulos Ensemble, and Concert Royal. Vas Dias received his early musical education in London and came to the United States in 1940 during the Second World War. He began learning oboe at Adelphi College in Long Island, New York. Harry further studied at Juilliard School with Lois Wann, followed by training under renowned oboist Harold Gomberg for three years. He spent over twenty years playing oboe in various orchestras nationwide, including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, The New Orleans Symphony, and New York's Chautauqua Symphony. In Florida, Vas Dias learned to operate a machine lathe at a local night school while serving as the 2nd oboist with The Miami Symphony. Interested in playing the Baroque oboe, Harry struggled to find the instrument, with practically no contemporary makers active in the USA back then. In 1974, he decided to begin making instruments himself and began apprenticing with Paul Hailperin; they visited the Metropolitan Museum Of Art and copied several iconic XVIII-century oboes, which laid the foundation for his subsequent work.