Philippe Rigoutat: "I let out my first cry on June 17th, 1959, and followed normal studies until the age of 18, when I graduated from the Departments of Design/Planning and Lathe Operation from a technical college in Champigny, France, where I now live with my family. I joined the family factory in September, 1977. After a period of training in all of the different aspects of oboe making, the French government offered me in 1979 a year of vacation in Solenzara (Corsica) with a beautiful uniform and some good friends called Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Captain. After coming back to the factory, I studied working with bore, tuning and tone holes with my father. Little by little, I discovered, with the collaboration of many of our customers, the huge world of oboe experimentation, and two models of oboes were born out of this-the Symphony model in 1987 and the Evolution in 1991. In April, 1992, I became the President of Rigoutat Oboes. In addition, I am an avid sports fan and I also try to help my wife take care of our three kids, ages four, six and ten. (Pray for me!)"