He began his study of the oboe at age 16 with John Minsker, then English hornist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and continued with world-renowned oboist Marcel Tabuteau at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
[1] Genovese served as principal oboe of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra from 1960 to 1977.
Genovese performed at the Marlboro Festival with Rudolf Serkin, and also played at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico for many years beginning in the mid-1950s.
He taught at New England Conservatory and Boston University.
Genovese died in Philadelphia on March 11, 2011, after a debilitating series of lung infections and complications from two heart attacks.