Personnel Bio

MU1 Laura Yawney

Musician 1st Class Laura Yawney joined the U.S Coast Guard Band in April 2022. Previously, she was a Fellow and a Regular Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Principal Oboe of the Endless Mountain Music Festival, and the Teaching Assistant for the Concert Orchestra at Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras. She has performed with ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Cape Symphony, New Bedford Symphony, Illinois Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, Reading Symphony Orchestra, Symphony in C, and Reláche, a long-standing Philadelphia chamber ensemble specializing in new music. She has studied at the Chautauqua Music Festival and Eastern Music Festival, and she has performed in master classes led by Dr. Nancy King, Katherine Needleman, Richard Sherman, and Mark Hill. MU1 Yawney holds degrees from the University of Delaware and Temple University. During her undergraduate degree, she was a featured soloist with the Newark Symphony Orchestra and the University of Delaware Symphony Orchestra, and her primary teachers are Peter Smith, Jeff O'Donnell, and Barbara Girdler. 

In addition to performing with the US Coast Guard Band, MU1 is the Adjunct Professor of Oboe at the University of Connecticut, maintains a private teaching studio, and enjoys an active freelancing schedule in the New England region. When she is not performing or teaching, MU1 is either playing beach volleyball, rock climbing, or reading in the company of her cat, Ella.