Festivals and workshops
Bassoonists Activities
New Bassoon Music Products and Research

The Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp is in its 15th year this summer. It will take place at Little Switzerland, North Carolina, from May 28 to June 4, 1993. Guest artists this year will be Richard Svoboda, principal bassoon of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Charles Ullery, principal bassoon of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Also Mark Popkin's Bassoon
Camp By-the-Sea will follow immediately at Emerald Isle, North Carolina, from June 5 to 12, 1993. For further information contact: Mark Popkin, 740 Arbor Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27104-2210, Tel.: (919) 725-5681.

Stephan Weidauer, principal bassoon in Saarbrucken, and teacher at the Saarland Academy, will present a Bassoon Workshop (Musikalische Fortbildung) at the Landesverband der Musikschulen in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on August 27-29, 1993. The workshop is limited to 15 participants and will cover bassoon technique, orchestra and chamber music,
reedmaking, and bassoon ensemble playing. For further information, write to: Landesverband der Musikschulen Fortbildung, Am Gerhardshaln 44, W-2370 Rendsburg, Germany, Tel.: (0 43 31) 5084, Fax: (0 43031) 5087

The Grand Teton Music Festival will be presenting an Orchestral Seminar at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from May 31-June 26, 1993. Featured bassoon instructors will be Benjamin Kamins, principal of the Houston Symphony, during weeks one and two; and Charles Ullery, principal of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Norman Herzberg, emeritus professor from the University of Southern California, during weeks three and four. For information before May 15th, write to: GTMF Orchestral Seminar, 2373 Terwood Dr., Huntington Valley, PA 19006,Tel.: (215) 947-3928, Fax: (215) 947-1919. After May 15th, inquire at: GTMF Orchestral Seminar, P.O. Box 490, Teton Village, WY 83025, Tel.: (307) 733-3050, Fax: (307) 739-9043.

An accredited two year Master's degree curriculum in orchestral performance, the first in North America, is in its second year this fall at Manhattan School of Music in New York City. The program, which is dedicated to training young instrumentalists for careers as orchestral
musicians, received a substantial appropriation in June, 1991, from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for start up costs. Participating faculty in the program are orchestra players, many of whom are principals, from the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the New York City Ballet. The program is also
given in collaboration with the Grand Teton Festival, Wyoming. Included in the curriculum is a semester long survey of the business of music which encompasses the non-performing life of the orchestral musician.

Bassoon faculty involved in the program are David Carroll, associate principal of the New York Philharmonic and Frank Morelli, principal of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New York City Opera Orchestra. For information on the program you can call (212) 749-2802 or the Director of Admissions at Manhattan School of Music (212) 749-3025.

Charles McCracken, one of New York's busiest free lance bassoonists, gave a master class and recital at Ohio State University, Columbus, on January 14 and 15, 1993. McCracken performed the Devienne Sonata in F, Op. 24, No. 3 and the Sonatas by Saint-Saëns and Hindemith assisted by Timothy Hutton, piano; then the Handel Trio Sonata in G Minor with
bassoonist and OSU Professor Christopher Weait joining them. Finally the two bassoonists were joined by bassoonist Janis McKay for a performance of the Adolf Bergt Trio for three bassoons.

John Hunt, Associate Professor of Music at the Eastman School of Music was the guest artist at the Kent State University Bassoon Fest at Kent Ohio, on May 3, 1992. Hunt gave a guest artist recital and master class. The works performed at his recital were the Suite, Op. 40 by Boismortier, the Tansman Sonatine, the Weber Hungarian Rondo, assisted by Jerry Davidson, piano and Chin-Chin Tan Choi, harpsichord. Kent State Professor and Bassoon Fest Coordinator, David DeBolt, then joined Hunt in performing the Handel G minor Trio Sonata. Bassoonist Colin Anderson then joined the two bassoonists to perform a series of bassoon trios: Elsinore (1991) by Ralph Hays, Phantom of the Opera selections by Andrew Lloyd Webber/Timothy Bishop, and Leapfrog by Joe Garland/John Iskra.

Barrick R. Stees, Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Michigan State University, gave the world premiere of the orchestral version of Willard Elliot's Six Portuguese Folk Songs in a concert at Michigan State on October 24th. Also on the program were Villa-Lobos' Ciranda das Sete Notas, Francisco Mignone's Concertino, and Hexen by Miguel del Aguila. The MSU Chamber
Orchestra, led by Brazilian Jorge Richter, accompanied Stees on this program.

The Boone County Bassoon Band recently performed at the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic which was held in Chicago, Illinois, December 15-19, 1992. "The Band" is composed of 20 bassoonists from central Missouri and Illinois. It is under the baton of Phil Wood with his wife, Barbara Wood (bassoonist at Missouri University-Columbia), as its
coordinator. The program consisted of Overture to the Barber of Seville, Giacchino Rossini, arranged by Don Ross; The Vanished Army Poetic March, Kenneth J. Alford, arranged by Phil Wood; Concerto for Oboe, 1. Allegro aperto, W.A. Mozart, arranged by Don Ross (Dan Willett-oboe soloist); Fugue in G Minor (The Little), J.S. Bach, arranged by Don Ross; Die
Fledermaus Overture, Johann Strauss, arranged by Phil Wood; a String of Pearls, Jerry Gray, arranged by Phil Wood; In the Mood, Joe Garland, arranged by Phil Wood; and The Stars and Stripes Forever, John Phillip Sousa, arranged by Phil Wood.

The 30th anniversary performance of the famous (or infamous?) Bubonic Bassoon Quartet will take place on Sunday, April 7, 1993 at 4:00 p.m. in Killian Hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139. The Bubonic Quartet, probably the most significant cause for the current "explosion" of bassoon ensemble playing the world
over, was first founded by John Miller in 1962. John is an MIT graduate (class of 1964) and, of course, currently principal bassoon of the Minnesota Orchestra. The concert is made possible with funding from the Peter De Florez Fund for Humor at MIT and MIT Music and Theater Arts. For a history of the Bubonic Bassoon Quartet written by John Miller in 1982, the reader
is referred to the article from the Double Reed (Vol 6, No. 1, 1983, pp. 13-18)

The Berlin Bassoon Quartet has been very active this past year. On September 20, 1992, they performed in concert at the celebration for the 750th Anniversary of the founding of the Zehlendorf region of Berlin city. The concert included the following works: Beethoven, Variations on a Theme by Mozart for three bassoons; Sonata No. 3 in C Major for three bassoons and contra, by Georg Wagenseil; and three works by Zehlendorf composers: Jeu pour Quartre (three bassoons, contra) by Dietrich Erdman, Variations on a theme by Liszt (three bassoons, contra) by Johann Gottlob von Wrochem, and Sonata (1992) (three bassoons, contra) by Oliver Kramer. The final work was a first performance. (Composer Oliver Kramer is currently on a year's scholarship to the California Institute of the Arts in the U.S.)

On October 24, 1992, the Quartet's concert on the Musika Rara Series in the Chamber Music Hall at the Berlin Schauspielhaus included a harpist. Works performed were the Wagenseil Sonatas No. 1 in D major and No. 3 in C Major, Gordon Jacob's Prelude, Fugue, and Scherzo, the Prokofiev Humorous Scherzo, the first performance of Allemande ein Deutscher Blues for three bassoons, contra, and harp by Andreas Aigmuller (a Berlin composer now residing in Salzburg), and the Beethoven Trio based on a Mozart theme.

March 8 to 14, 1993, the Quartet presented a Mastercourse for Bassoon Ensemble Playing at the Rheinsburg Musikakademie. The final concert by the participants took place in the Spiegelsall des Schlosses. (Rheinsberg is a short distance from Berlin.) Members of the Berliner Fagottquartet are Gerhard Rapsch, Thomas Killikowski, Helge Bartholomas, and Stanislau Riha.

The American Festival of Microtonal Music recently performed the Microfest Autumn 1992 in New York-a series of four Saturday evening concerts (September 19, October 10 and 17, and November 7, 1992) devoted to microtonal music. The November 7th concert at the New York University Theatre included the premiere of a commissioned work, Raven, by bassoonist
Johnny Reinhard who performed at the 1991 I.D.R.S. conference in Towson, Maryland and more recently at the Bassoon Fest in Holland in 1992. Reinhard is a member of the American Festival of Microtonal Music and a specialist in performing microtonal music on the bassoon. (A review of another microtonal work for bassoon by Reinhard appears elsewhere in this issue.)

Homer Pence, Emeritus Professor of Bassoon at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, was a guest at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, on November 7th where he demonstrated his software to aid in bassoon reed making. He also gave a master class for Northwestern bassoon students on November 6th.

The Music Fix, a Madison, Wisconsin, based new music ensemble, gave the World Premiere of Mythalogical Triptych for soprano, bassoon and piano (1992) by Royce Dembo on March 12, 1993, at the Madison Civic Center. The work was commissioned by the ensemble from the local Madison composer. The three poems of the work are serio-comic in nature and these elements are reflected in the frequent mood shifts of the work. On the same program the ensemble performed SIDEREAL LIAISONS III (1991) for clarinet, bassoon and piano by Florida composer Kerin Hiatt. This work was commissioned and premiered by The Music Fix in Nov. 1991. Trio (1953) for clarinet, bassoon and piano by Werner Wolf Glaser and the Villa
Lobos Fantasie Concertante (1953) for the same instrumentation rounded out their program.

Members of The Music Fix are Tim Gould, clarinet; Cindy Cameron Fix, bassoon; Audrey Highton, soprano; and Dale Fix, piano.

Cornelia Biggers, contrabassoon, performed part of the Concerto for Contrabasson by Vazgen Muradian in a special concert highlighting first chair players with the Richey Community Orchestra, Hudson, Florida, on Feb. 21, 1993 with Vaughn Wallis Beam conducting.

The Minnesota Bassoon Association maintains an active schedule. On October 18, 1992, Steve Dibner, associate principal bassoon of the San Francisco Symphony and a member of the Orpheus Ensemble of New York was guest for a presentation and master class. On the same day, the American Reed Trio (Richard Killmer, oboe; Frank Ell, clarinet; and John Miller, bassoon) joined pianist Thelma Park for the opening concert of the Music in the Park Series at St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ in St. Paul. January's meeting featured a group recital by MBA members and members' ensemble. Those interested in corresponding with or joining the MBA can contact editor Patty Zurea by writing to 430 Oak Grove Street, Minneapolis, MN
55403.

On February 17 and 18, 1993, Hungarian bassoonist Gabor Janota performed Gerhard Wuensch's Bassoon Concerto with the Orchestra London conducted by Uri Mayer in London, Ontario, Canada.

This work was written for Gabor Janota in 1976 and revised in 1992. It is scored for small orchestra, without double-reeds, in order not to duplicate the characteristic sound of the soloinstrument; hence, a bass-clarinet is used to complete the wood-wind section. The brass section consists of two horns, two trumpets, and a trombone. There is no percussion.

Three movements use various moods: the first one (Allegro commodo) is neo-classic in character with ample opportunity for technical display for the soloist, the second is a nocturne, lyrical and subdued in mood, followed by a brief finale, scherzo-like in character. The orchestral setting is simple and without great technical problem. The total duration is 23 minutes (8, 10, and 5
minutes respectively).

The first performance was given by Janota in Hungary in 1984, and the first performance of the revised version took place in London, Canada in February 1993. Score and parts are available from: Canadian Music Centre, 20 St. Joseph Street, Chalmers
House, Toronto, Ontario, M4Y 1J9 Canada.

Composer Gerhard Wuensch was born in Vienna in 1925. He holds artistic diplomas from the Vienna Academy and has a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Vienna. He has also studied composition in the U.S. with Paul Pisk and Kent Kennan. He has many published works.

Bassoonist David Rachor recently gave the World Premiere of the Concerto for Bassoon, Winds and Percussion (1992) by Bernard Van Beirden at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, on November 13, 1992, accompanied by the UNI Wind Symphony, Ronald Johnson, conductor. On November 20, 1992, Rachor also gave the second performance with the same ensemble at the convention of the Iowa Music Educators Association at the Fisher Theatre in Ames, Iowa. He will also perform the work in Europe next summer, in Hungary with the UNI Wind Symphony and in May with four Dutch wind ensembles.

The work, a fine showcase for bassoon, is scored for the soloist, 12 winds, and three percussionists. It is written in a modern, but not severe, style and is quite accessible to a general audience. The work will be available through: David Rachor, School of Music, 110 Russell Hall, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50614-0246, Tel: (319) 273-2024. Score and parts will probably cost from $125 to $130.

Daniel Dorff has written an excellent new Concerto for Contrabassoon [1991]. The commissioned work was composed for contrabassoonist Norman Spielberg of Philadelphia, PA, and premiered by him in Philadelphia with the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, James Freeman conducting, on Nov. 3, 1991. The accompaniment is for one clarinet, one horn and reduced strings. The work is in a very listenable and audience-appealing style. Dorff has written a number of fine compositions and has crafted here an excellent new work for the contrabassoonist. If you're interested in obtaining the music try contacting the composer
directly at: 241 Strathmore Rd., Havertown, PA 19083. Tel: 215-446-0376.

Mark Popkin, who has been marketing excellent bassoon and contrabassoon tools since 1983, has recently provided some modifications to his bassoon and contra profiling machines. These include shoulder options (either a clean, definite ledge or a gradual one is available) and ramp options (either a straight or a curved ramp available). For those who have Popkin profilers,
Mark writes that he will upgrade their machines for no charge except $12.00 for the new knife and $25.00 for the new ramp plus shipping charges incurred.

Mark also has a number of arrangements for wind quintet and wind ensemble published by various publishers including Theodore Presser, Airy, and Compusic of Holland. For a complete list and catalog of his tools write to: Clarion Music Co., 740 Arbor Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27104, Tel. (919) 725-5681.

For the past year and a half I have been profiling my own (and often my student's) reeds on a fantastic profiler made by James Butterfield of San Jose, California. With this machine I can make reeds that are 99% ready to play when I clip the tips open. I've even had a few that required no adjustment beyond cutting the tip open. I share total admiration of this instrument with every other owner of a Butterfield profiler that I have talked to. Jim is a fine bassoonist himself. Now a machinist, he prefers to model the cam of the profiler after the reed style of his teacher Frederick Moritz. (The machine works on a pattern similar to a Pfeiffer, but with many, many micro-adjustment possibilities.) He will, however, customize the cam to the buyer's reed style. (The Moritz cam works great for me.) Interested parties can write or call: James Butterfield, 1684 Kevin Drive, San Jose, CA 95124, Tel.: (408) 260-5290.

Dewayne Pigg (P.O. Box 120222, Nashville, TN 37212, Tel.: (615) 331-3194) is selling T-shirts for the oboe, English horn, or bassoon player and enthusiast. You can order them with "Bassoon" (also in five languages) or "The Bassoonist" plus illustrations and a variety of styles. Write him for a catalog.

Susan Nigro, Chicago contrabassoon specialist, has a clever new book out entitled Laffs From the Bottom of the Pit.- The Musicians' Joke Book ... for Conductors Too. The book contains "...jokes and tall tales about the not so serious side of music." There are two versions: "Adult" for $6.95 and "Youth" for $5.95. The book may be ordered from: R&E Publishers, P.O. Box
2008, Saratoga, CA 95070, Tel.: (800) 243-9329.

From Robert Barris (School of Music, Northwestern University, 1965 Campus Dr. South, Evanston, IL, 60208, Tel.: (708) 491-7228, Fax: (708) 467-2363) comes the following suggestion for a new program.

I'd like to suggest that the I.D.R.S. start an email address file of its members. I'm sure that many of us must be online, but finding each other's address can be next to impossible. If it turns out there are enough of us on the Internet perhaps we could even establish an online newsletter. How about making some sort of announcement in the next issue of The Double Reed asking people to submit their e-mail addresses. I would be happy to serve as a conduit and members could send their addresses to me at CompuServe 71141, 1134, or via Internet at rab@casbah.acns.nwu.edu, or this information could be included in the database that Lowry maintains. In any event, the whole idea is to make it readily available.

Interested parties can contact Bob directly.

From Camilo Rojas (North Village, E-8, Amherst, MA 01002) comes word that, for the past three years, he has been involved in compiling an index of duos for oboe and bassoon and of trios for oboe, bassoon, and piano. The results so far might shock you if you think the literature goes nowhere beyond the Poulenc Trio. So far, he has 103 compositions from 89 composers
in the duo section and 230 compositions from 174 composers in the trio category. As Camilo points out, "Some are either transcriptions or arrangements and many are already out of print. But, they are out there somewhere providing more possible material other than Poulenc for combined recitals." If any readers know of works to be added to Camilo's lists, please
contact him directly. Hopefully he will be publishing his results soon.

And, speaking of new works, Marc Apfelstadt and I have finally gotten our act together and have begun publishing the results of our bassoon survey, Bassoon Performance and Teaching Materials, Techniques, and Methods. The 200+ page book, the compilations of 330 respondents to our questionnaire, is available for $30 per copy ($25 for survey participants). The study contains a wealth of information on instruments, reed making, bassoon literature and techniques, including measurements of all reeds submitted to the study. For an order form, write to: School of Music Publications, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83843, Tel.: (208) 885-6594.

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