Blair Tindall received superlative critical acclaim for her February 24, 1991 solo debut recital in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Allan Kozinn of the New York Times wrote, "Blair Tindall played a clever, stylistically varied program ... her sound was as sweet as an oboe timbre can be. She played a Telemann Sonata in c minor, and applied ornamentation that was adventurous, sometimes unconventional, and consistently rich in character. Ms. Tindall was joined by members of the Colorado String Quartet for a beautifully balanced, carefully shaped account of the Mozart Oboe Quartet." In addition to the Telemann and Mozart, the program included works by Saint-Saens and Vaughan Williams, and a set of pieces about insects by Britten, Brown and Dorati. Brian Zeger was the pianist, Robert White the tenor.

The summer of 1991 found Blair at the Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival on Cape Cod, where the highlight of her program was the World Premiere of Elizabeth Brown's A Fragile Barrier, with Samuel Sanders at the piano. Microtonal in character, the piece is based on Henry David Thoreau's Cape Cod. Tindall and Sanders also performed Telemann's Sonata in a minor, and the Lark Quartet appeared in the Mozart Oboe Quartet earlier in the season, Blair played the United States premiere of Nicholas Maw's Little Concert with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, under the baton of Leon Botstein.

On July 21, 1991, Marti P. Hess premiered the Concerto for Oboe and Band by Erwin Chandler. The performance took place at Italian Lake in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as part of the outdoor band concert series. Marti commissioned the work from Mr. Chandler of Mohnton, PA (near Reading) when she realized the lack of solo oboe/band pieces available for performers. Erwin Chandler studied composition with Warren Benson, Bernhard Heiden, William Mayer, and Juan Orreggo Salas. The piece is written in three movements which vary from jazzy rhythmic energy to flowing pastoral melodic lines. The Concerto for Oboe and Band is within the range of an advanced high school student to professionals. It is scored for a full complement of winds and percussion.

For more information about this work, please contact M.P. Hess, 106 East Washington Street, Elizabethtown, PA 17022, or call: (717) 367-6140.

Carol Padgham Albrecht, assisted by John Fowler, piano and harpsichord, presented a recital on January 11, 1991, at the Avondale United Methodist Church, Kansas City, Missouri. The program included the Bach Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1020, the Britten Temporal Variations, and Mozart's Concerto in C Major, K 314. On February 7, 1991, assisted by Sandra Mauchley, pianist, she performed the Marcello C Minor Concerto, the Gordon Jacob Sonata, and Carlo Yvon's Sonata for English Hom and Piano in the recital hall of the Lionel Hampton School of Music of the University of Idaho, where she is a member of the faculty. (This is the performance that was "reviewed" by a member of Carol's music appreciation class in the fall issue of the Double Reed.)

Cary Ebli is English hornist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He will perform the solo in Sibelius's Swan of Tuonela this November, and will premiere a work commissioned for him by the CBC by Canadian composer Brian Cherney, under the direction of Toronto Symphony's Laureate Conductor, Andrew Davis, in February 1993. On
very short notice he served as English hornist with the Boston Symphony for the month of July during its Tanglewood season. He had previously served as English horn and assistant principal oboe of the San Antonio Symphony for three seasons.

On October 21, 1991, Judith Zunamon Lewis performed the Chicago premiere of Georg Druschetzky's Concerto for Eight Tympani and Oboe at Orchestra Hall with the Chicago
Sinfonietta. Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "Oboist Judith Zunamon Lewis lent her part Mozartean warmth." Currently, Lewis is a member of Music of the Baroque, an active studio musician, principal oboe of the Chicago Sinfonietta, Lake Forest Symphony, and Symphony of the Shores. In addition, she performs frequently with the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera, Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Opera Theatre, Concertante di Chicago, Symphony II, and the Bach Week Festival. In November 1991, Lewis was the featured soloist in Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C with the Lake Forest Symphony. Also with this orchestra she performed Copland's Quiet City at the American Symphony Orchestra League National Conference in Chicago in June, 1990. Lewis serves on the faculties of both Northern Illinois University and DePaul University.

Laura Jaeger Seiffert, principal oboe of the Kingston Symphony in Ontario and oboe instructor at Queen's University, along with flutist Donelda Hunter and pianist Michel Szczesniak, performed a concert in the Memorial Hall of historic City Hall in Kingston on November 19, 1991.

This program, which was broadcast by the CBC, included the Loelliet Trio Sonata in G, Trio for Flute, Oboe and Piano by Canadian composer Oskar Morawetz and the William Tell, Duo Brilliant by Jules Demerssemen and Felix Charles Bertelemy.

Ms. Seiffert also appears on a recently released CD titled "20th Century Canadian Chamber Music" performing the Two Soliloquies by F.R.C. Clarke. The CD was produced by the Queen's University School of Music as part of the Sesquicentennial celebrations of the founding of Queen's University in 1841.

Ms. Seiffert will be soloist with the Kingston Symphony in Hummel's Introduction, Theme, and Variations in January of 1993.

Ivan Pushetchnikov, one of the former USSR's leading oboists, was presented in a series of "International Advanced Classes in Oboe Artistry" dedicated to the memory of Sergei Rachmaninoff, from July 25 to August 10, 1992, at the Rachmaninoff College of Music, Tambov, Russia. Tambov is an old Russian town, built in 1636, where the grandfather and father of the great composer were born, and where Rachmaninoff created many of his major works. A memorial museum has been set up on the estate where he lived and worked. Ivan Pushetchnikov was born in Kharkov and studied at the Moscow Conservatory with N. Nazarov and N. Soloduev. For twenty years he has been soloist in the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra working with Evgeny Svetlanov, Kiril Kondrashin, and other leading conductors. When the Gnessin Musical Institute was founded, he was offered a professorship there. His reputation as a teacher rests with his students' success: more than a hundred soloists and laureates of national and world contests, among them V. Elston, A. Lubimov, and E. Njepalo, have studied with him. He has participated as juror in oboe competitions in Munich, Geneva, Prague, and Budapest.

Amy Collins presented a recital at the University of Tampa in Florida, on September 25, 1992. She was assisted by Kevin Fuller, bassoon, and Robert Winslow, piano in a program that included J.S. Bach's Concerto in d Minor, Anton Reicha's Scene for Cor Anglais, Kalliwoda's Concertino, Op. 110, and Francis Poulenc's Trio. In addition to her work at the university, Amy Collins plays second oboe and English horn in the Florida West Coast Symphony.

Ingo Goritzki was featured artist in this summer's Corsi Musicali Estivi di Bobbio, in Italy. On August 23 he appeared with flutist Renate Greiss and bassoonist Sergio Azzolini in Telemann's Quartet in D Major (for flute, oboe, bassoon, and continuo); Isang Yun's Pezzo Fantasioso for flute, oboe, and bassoon; VillaLobos Duo for oboe and bassoon; and Telemann's Quartet in D Minor (also for flute,oboe, bassoon, and continuo). They were assisted by Nanneke Schaap, viola da gamba, and Roberto Menichetti, harpsichord. On August 30 in the Castel San Giovanni, Teatro Verdi, Goritzki again appeared with Renate Greiss and pianist Maria Grazia Bellocchio in a program that included J.C. Bach's Trio in G Major for flute, oboe, and continuo; Isang Yun's Invenzioni for flute and oboe; Saint-Saens Oboe Sonata, Op. 1676; and Jean Michel Damase's Trio for flute, oboe and piano.

The Pandean Players, ensemble-in-residence at Georgia State University, opened their 1992-93 season with "American Adventure," a program of 20th century American music for wind quintet. The concerts took place at Georgia State Recital Hall on October 18 and at Oglethorpe University's Lupton Hall on October 20. The program included Irving Fine's Partita, Samuel Barber's Summer Music, George Gershwin's Preludes, Gunther Schuller's Suite, and Four TwoBit Contraptions (for flute and horn) by Jan Bach. The Pandean Players are in their thirteenth season and have presented more than 750 concerts throughout the eastern United States. Members of the group are James Zellers, flute; Barbara Secrist, oboe; Robyn Ulman, clarinet; David Savige, bassoon; and Julie Buenrostro, horn. Barbara is artistic director of the ensemble.

Pauline Oostenrijk presented a recital at the Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York on November 22, 1992 as first prize winner of the 1991 I.D.R.S. Fernand Gillet International Oboe Competition.. Assisted by Louise Geusebroek, pianist, she performed the Donizetti, Sonata in F Major; Saint-Saens Sonata, Op. 166; In Friendship by Karlheinz Stockhausen; Two Fantasy Pieces, Op. 2 by Carl Nielsen; the New York premiere of Marc Apfelstadt's Prisms & Refractions for Oboe and Tape; and Pasculli's Gran Concerto on Themes of Donizetti's La Favorita.

Pauline Oostenrijk studied oboe and piano at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where she finished her training with the highest award at the early age of nineteen. Her oboe teachers were Koen van Slogteren (former oboist with the Danzi Quintet), Jan Spronk (first oboist in the Concertgebouw Orchestra) and Thomas Indermuhle. At the age of seventeen, Pauline Oostenrijk was the first oboist in the World Youth Symphony Orchestra in Interlochen, Michigan, where she also won the Ludwig Composition Prize. She has been first prize winner in a number of competitions: the national final of the Young Musician of the Year Competition, the Tromp Oboe Competition, the Sweelinck Prize and the Silver Medal of the Concertgebouw. In August 1991, Ms. Oostenrijk was selected as First Prize Winner in the International Fernand Gillet Competition, sponsored by the International Double Reed Society. Pauline Oostenrijk is principal oboist in the Netherlands Philharmonie Orchestra and teaches oboe at the Amsterdam University of Arts.

Richard Woodhams was soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Herbert Blomstedt conducting, in performances of George Rochberg's Oboe Concerto on March 12, 13, 14, and 17, 1992. The biography of Mr. Woodhams appeared in the orchestra's program book, as did the note on the concerto; both are reprinted here with permission.

Principal Oboe of The Philadelphia Orchestra, Richard Woodhams is a native of Northern California and comes from a musical family. He attended the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with John de Lancie, his distinguished predecessor in the Orchestra. Upon graduation he was appointed by Walter Susskind to be principal oboe of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, remaining there until he assumed his present position in 1977.

Mr. Woodhams has been a soloist in collaboration with both Eugene Ormandy and Riccardo Muti, among others, playing the first subscription performances of works by Strauss, Haydn, Bellini, Vaughan Williams, and Joan Tower. He has received The Philadelphia Orchestra's C. Hartman Kuhn Award, and he also holds the Orchestra's first endowed chair, given by the Samuel S. Fels Foundation.

In addition to his orchestral work, Mr. Woodhams is independently active as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, having played in the United States, Canada, and Japan. He is a member of the faculties of Temple University and the Curtis Institute, teaching both the oboe and woodwind orchestral literature.

George Rochberg
Born Paterson, New Jersey, July 5, 1918

Now living in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania Oboe Concerto

Instrumentation: solo oboe; 2 flutes (Il doubling piccolo), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (xylophone, tambourine, tubular bells, small bass drum, deep gong, large suspended cymbal), celesta, harp, strings.

["Excusez du peu," as Rossini used to say when his habitual cliffhanging way of going right down to the wire on deadlines dictated the shortest possible solution for compositional problems. In view of the last-minute program change that has brought the Rochberg Oboe Concerto before you this week, and since your annotator is now doing your annotating from 3 , 000 miles away, he hopes you will forgive him for presenting the composer's own comments on the work without further elucidation, beyond the merely factual information that the work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic with the aid of a gift from Francis Goelet as part of a program designed to provide that orchestra's principal players with solo works, and that it was written between February and April 1983.

Fortunately, Mr. Rochberg's words are lucid and informative enough not to need supplementing anyway. They are reproduced here from the New York Philharmonic program on the occasion of the concerto's premiere - on December 13, 1984 - with grateful acknowledgment to Phillip Ramey, author of the Philharmonic's note, and to the PhilharmonicSymphony Society of New York, Inc.]

In this Concerto, I have made no effort to exploit the extremes of the oboe because,
as I see it, the main reason for writing a piece is to say something, not to concentrate on the purely technical characteristics of an instrument. Except for a few tuttis, the oboe is prominent throughout, although the writing for the solo is not virtuosic in the usual sense; rather, the work demands an expressive virtuosity from the soloist.

To my ear, the oboe has a special voice in its purely expressive, plangent quality, its probing kind of singing. Of all the woodwinds, I think the oboe is the most full of personality. This Concerto was designed for Joseph Robinson, and while writing it I had very much in mind his approach to the instrument, which is lyric and involves wonderful phrasing and marvelous tone.

Formally, the Concerto is rhapsodic, cast in four parts played without pause. The first and last sections present the essential pool of ideas out of which the expressive aspects of the work derive; however, neither has only one characteristic or quality throughout, because each divides into smaller units of gesture. The first section, a poco andante with two middle parts, is mostly slow music - poetic, lyric, singing - while the word scherzo conveys the character of the second: lively, ironic, with constantly shifting meters. The Concerto's third section, a march, is again a kind of ironic music, but for the most part in regular meter. In the second and third parts I have tried to reveal aspects of the oboe that are opposed to the plangent - satiric, comic, slightly acerbic; nevertheless, great seriousness is involved in both.

There are two oboe cadenzas, occurring between the first and second and the third and fourth sections. They are entirely different in character, the first being a kind of expansive arioso, the second taking its cue from the atmosphere of the march. The work's final part, primarily slow and reflective, contains references to ideas from the first section , although none of the material returns in exactly the same way. My feeling is that this music deepens the expressive world of the opening. The final twenty bars are a kind of coda with quiet, delicate toneclusters, and the piece ends softly, facing away.

I think of my Oboe Concerto as being the most poetic of my recent efforts, and I have no hesitation in terming it a romantic work. Although the writing tends to be highly chromatic, there is, overall, a strong sense of tonal direction in line and harmony.

The March 13 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer included a feature article on these performances. It is also reprinted here.

During the 15 seasons that he has been the Philadelphia Orchestra's principal oboist, Richard Woodhams has given audiences at the Academy of Music a pleasant survey of the solo literature written for his instrument.

Standing in front of his orchestral colleagues, he has played the "Handel, the Haydn, the Bellini, the Bach Double, the Vaughan-Williams, the Vivaldi, the Strauss, the Mozart" - he ticks them off, adding that, although he enjoys the solo assignments, the finest solo playing scored for his instrument is likely to be found within the orchestral literature.

"I really enjoy playing in the orchestra and perhaps that's where the oboe belongs," says Woodhams, whose voice is one of this refined ensemble's most elegant and distinctive.

A lot of the many baroque concertos that feature or include oboe are not all that challenging, although a growing list of contemporary pieces have held their fascinations for him, including Bruno Maderna's Music of Gaiety and Joan Tower's concerto called Island Prelude, both of which he has played here.

Woodhams volunteers that there are modern works that he hasn't played. "There's an Elliot Carter that I wish I liked and one by John Corigliano that some people like and some people don't. ..."

One modern concerto that Woodhams likes and is happy to perform with the orchestra this week is George Rochberg's Oboe Concerto. It was composed in 1983 for Joseph Robinson, the principal player of the New York Philharmonic, who premiered it the following year.

Woodhams says he practiced the Rochberg piece "years ago just for my own amusement,"

and decided to put it on this week's subscription programs when it was announced that Wolfgang Sawallisch wouldn't be coming.

"I was supposed to do the Strauss Concerto with Sawallisch, and I wanted to save that one for him," he said, referring to the music-director designate's longstanding specialty in the music of Richard Strauss. (Woodhams last performed the Strauss here in 1979 under Eugene Ormandy.)

According to the oboist, Rochberg has written very idiomatically for the instrument. "It's very atmospheric," he says, "and gives all the satisfaction of tonal music." The Concerto does not exploit the extremes of the instrument - nor pursue virtuosity for its own sake, Woodhams says - but it keeps the oboe moving through most of the performance.

Woodhams also likes "that it's very largescale, for full-blown orchestra," referring to the smaller resources called for in the baroque and classic concertos.

"It's pretty taxing in terms of control," says Woodhams, who has been practicing the work intensely for the last two weeks. After spending one afternoon and evening with the composer last week discussing the work, Rochberg joined Woodhams and Herbert Blomstedt on Wednesday afternoon for a private run-through before the orchestral rehearsal.

"That was fascinating and I think we've all come to a consensus on important matters," he says, adding, "It's very interesting to work with a live composer like this; in fact it's unnatural for a musician not to - although this is the first time in history that this is so.

"There are a lot of reasons for it but I don't want to go into them now," said Woodhams, who was due on stage for the regular orchestra rehearsal.

On March 29, 1992, Mr. Woodhams was soloist in the premiere of William Bolcom's A Spring Concertino for Oboe and Small Orchestra with the Temple University Symphony Orchestra, Luis Biava conducting. This work, which dates from 1987, was written for Harry Sargous and the Midland (Michigan) Symphony Orchestra. The work is cast in one movement with several tempo changes. It is a lyrical work in G major, with light orchestration, in keeping with the evocation of springtime. A 2/4 section gives way to a 6/8 siciliano, followed by a jazz waltz with a short cadenza, closing with a reprise of the opening material and a short coda. Mr. Woodhams is a member of the faculty of Temple University.

DeWayne Pigg, Instructor of Double Reeds at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is also English horn soloist of the Nashville Symphony, a position he has held since 1972. He holds degrees from Fisk University and George Peabody College where Don Cassel (former first oboist of the Nashville Symphony) was his major teacher. He is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Indiana University where he has studied with Jerry Sirucek and Marc Lifschey. He is also managing director of the Stones River Chamber Players in residence at MTSU. This season's schedule includes Elliott Carter's Sonata for flute, oboe, cello, and harpsichord; J.J. Fux's Sonata a quatro for oboe, violin, trombone, bassoon, and continuo; the Trio for oboe, viola, and horn by Gunther Schuller; the Trio for flute, oboe, and piano by Madeline Dring; and the C Major Divertimento, P. 98 for oboe, viola, and double bass by Michael Haydn. DeWayne adds, "I played the English horn solo in the song sung by Burt Reynolds on the sound track of the movie Best Little Whore House in Texas. I am also on several recordings by country artists such as Johnny Cash, Mel Tillis, Erlene Mandrell, John Denver and others. I have recorded for several contemporary Christian projects as well."

Rebecca Henderson performed the Concerto for Oboe d'Amore and Strings by Harold Schiffman at the International Conference of the Society of Composers held at the University of Alabama School of Music. The piece was written in 1988 for Julie Giacobassi, English horn player of the San Francisco Symphony, who premiered the piece in San Francisco in 1990. Rebecca mentions that: "Harold is a retired professor of composition at Florida State University. Another of his works, Seven Bagatelles for Flute and Oboe, were written for flutist Sheryl Cohen and myself.

We have performed it many times. Both pieces are excellent and I recommend them."

Sara Lambert Bloom, professor of oboe at the College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, performed as a founding member of the St. Cyprien International Festival of the Arts, held in the small coastal town of St. Cyprien in the Catalan region of France. Her appearances were sponsored by a grant from the Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, a public/private partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States Information Agency, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, with administrative support from Arts International. A CD of live performances, "Music from St. Cyprien," will be released in January of 1993. Sara also served as a consultant to the pilot program "Chamber Residencies in Rural America," created by the National Endowment for the Arts in collaboration with Affiliate Artists. She was also a featured performer at the Frankfurt conference of the I.D.R.S. where she premiered the Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano by Bernhard Heiden. This work was written for her with a grant from the University of Cincinnati's Research Council. Her appearance was sponsored by F. Lorée of Paris.

Tamara Field, assisted by Frank Corliss, pianist, presented a recital at Thayer Academy, Braintree, Massachusetts, on November 1, 1992. Her program included the Telemann C Minor Sonata; William Bolcom's Aubade for the Continuation of Life; Edmund Rubbra's Sonata; the Telemann F Major Sonata; Gordon Jacob's Rhapsody for English Hom and Piano; and Eugene Bozza's Divertissement. Tamara lives in Crystal Falls, Michigan where she is artistic director of the Timberland Chamber Players.

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