Karel Pivonka
PRAGUE - Professor Karel Pivonka, the patriarch of Czech bassoonists, died at the age of 79 in Prague on 26, December, 1986. Having graduated from the Prague Conservatoire he was engaged for a short period by the Zagreb Opera House and then, as from 1928, he played the first bassoon in the Prague National Theatre under such distinguished conductors as Otakar Ostrcil, Vaclav Talich, Otakar Jeremias and Zdenek Chalabala. His soloist appearances were many and he will be particularly remembered for his performance of Bassoon Concerto by Jan Antonin Kozeluh on a record that won a worthy international reputation. As a teacher he tutored first at the Conservatoire and then since 1964 held classes as a professor at the Academy of Arts during which time he launched over 160 young musicians on their way, out of which 24 were laureates of international competitions. Karel Pivonka's contribution to music received official appreciation when he was awarded the titles of Honoured Teacher and Artist of Merit.
David Reichenberg (1950-1987)
(David Reichenberg, the distinguished first oboist of Trevor Pinnock's baroque orchestra, the English Concert, died in London on June 10. The members of I. D. R. S. mourn his passing. The following obituary appeared in Iowa papers. Ed.)
CEDAR FALLS - Services for David Reichenberg, 36, of London, England, formerly of Cedar Falls, are pending in London. There will be no local services.
Mr. Reichenberg died Wednesday (June 10) after a brief illness.
He was born July 13, 1950, in Cedar Falls, son of Edwin and Norma Reichenberg.
He studied the oboe under Dr. Myron Russell of the University of Northern Iowa Music Department and received a bachelor's degree in oboe performance from Indiana University in 1972. Later that year he began advanced studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, under Nikolaus Harnoncourt and later under Jurg Schaeftlein and Paul Hailperin at the Vienna High School for Music and the Related Arts.
He has been a free-lance oboe soloist in Europe and had been the first oboist with the Hamburg Symphony, Trevor Pinnock's English Concert, and Harnoncourt's Concentus Musicus of Vienna.
He broadcast extensively for the British Broadcasting Co. and made many recordings as a soloist, including the Bach and Handel Oboe Concertos, and Handel's Concerti Grossi, Op. 3, which won two major recording awards during 1985.
He was on the faculty of several summer schools throughout Europe and the Vancouver, British Columbia Early Music Festival as well as touring Europe, the United States, Japan and Central and South America with the Hamburg Symphony, the English Concert and the Concentus Musicus in Vienna.
He taught at the London Guildhall School of Music and last December received an appointment as guest professor of oboe at the Vienna High School for Music and Related Arts.
Survivors include his parents of Cedar Falls; and a sister, Mary of Denver, Colo.
Memorials may be made to the American Diabetes Foundation, St. John Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls, or the UNI School of Music Scholarship Fund.