Dr. Schoenbach became solo bassoonist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1937 and has served as Executive Director of the Settlement Music School since 1957. He earned an honorary doctorate from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1969, and from Temple University in 1971 for his work with the Temple College of Music.
Dr. Schoenbach has received the Hartman Kuhn Award from the Philadelphia Orchestra for his role in organizing the Pension Fund; the Music Award of the Philadelphia Art/Alliance Medal of Achievement; the Mario Lanza Award; Young Audiences Award for Outstanding Service in Arts Education to Youth; and the Celebrations and Fulfillment Award, presented by the American Foundation for the Science of Creative Intelligence. Governor Scranton appointed him to the first Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
As Director of the Settlement Music School, Dr. Schoenbach improved the facilities and brought the enrollment to a total of 3000 with a faculty of 150. Special grants were obtained for the purpose of bringing musical instruction to the North Philadelphia Hartranft area and to the Philadelphia prisons. He was also responsible for a Ford Foundation instructional program for instrumentalists from the All-Philadelphia Senior High School Orchestra.
Dr. Schoenbach has written many significant articles of general interest in the field of music and music education. He has been a principal participant since 1966 in the Marlboro Music Festival, the Sarasota-based New College Music Festival in Florida and the Bach Festival in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
He serves on the board of The National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts and was invited to be a judge in the international bassoon competition held in Munich in 1975. He has been on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music since 1943 and has many students throughout the world.
Noah Knepper is currently Professor of Woodwinds (Oboe, Bassoon and Clarinet) and Director of Fine Arts Graduate Studies at Texas Christian University. He is formerly principal oboist Fort Worth Symphony, extra bassoon Dallas Symphony, and presently member of Fort Worth Opera and Oratorio Orchestras. He is also a member of the Casa Manana and Dallas Summer Musicals Orchestras.
Mr. Knepper has served as IDRS Treasurer (1972-75) and as Chairman Honorary Member Committee. He is a regular contributor to "The Double Reed."
Hugh Cooper is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music and the Professor of Bassoon at his alma mater since 1944. He is a former member of the Detroit Symphony for 18 years and a Charter Member of the University of Michigan Woodwind Quintet.
Mr. Cooper is also author of the definitive book on bassoon fingerings and their usage, Essentials of Bassoon Techniques, and articles on the pedagogy, design, and maintenance of the bassoon. He is also considered an expert in wind instrument acoustics and the designer of the Cooper Model Puchner Bassoon.
Hugh Cooper was one of the small group of concerned individuals who, in December of 1972, gathered in Chicago and originated the concept of a double reed society. As a result he is a Charter Member of the IDRS and subsequently hosted the first IDRS Conference on the University of Michigan campus in August of 1972. Professor Cooper has served the Society in the capacity of First Vice-President and is currently the incumbent Second Vice-President. His numerous contacts with the music industry are particularly appropriate to the office of the Second Vice President whose primary function is to act as the liaison officer between the society and the music industry.
Nancy Fowler has been Professor of Oboe since 1955 at the Florida State University, where she is a charter member of the Tallahassee Woodwind Quintet and the FSU Chamber Orchestra. She holds the B.S., M.A., and Fulbright with Haakon Stotijn in Amsterdam, Holland. A recent sabbatical included studies with Heinz Holliger, Bert Lucarelli, Ray Still, and Wilma Zonn. She has played oboe and English horn with the Jacksonville (FL), Savannah (GA), Columbus (OH), Knoxville (TN), and Halifax (NS), Symphony Orchestras. Dr. Fowler has a filmstrip on playing the oboe and an instructional video tape on reed-making. A long time member of IDRS, she has served as Chairman of the Composition Contest Committee for the last two years.
Richard Meek is Associate Professor of Bassoon at Texas Tech University and serves as the assistant conductor of the University Symphony Orchestra. He holds a bachelor's degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a master's degree from the Eastman School of Music, having studied also at the Akademie Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria, and at Yale University. He has studied privately with Rudolph Klepac, K. David Van Hoesen, and Louis Skinner, and has performed as solo bassoonist with the Eastman Philharmonia and Wind Ensemble, Rochester Civic Orchestra, and professionally with the Camerata Academica of Salzburg, Brevard Festival Orchestra and the Festival Orchestra at Stratford, Ontario, among others. He has been successful in computerizing the IDRS membership mailing list for greater accuracy as the incumbent treasurer, and of course Richard has served as the 1981 conference host.