The Parthia di Praga, a double reed ensemble drawn from members of the orchestras of the Czechoslovak Broadcasting at Prague consists of Zdenek Hebda, oboe; Jiri Hebda, oboe; Frantisek Xaver Thuri, English horn; Jan Sebek, bassoon; and Bernard Markek, bassoon. The harpsichordist Dagmar Kristenová joins them in some repertoire. They perform transcriptions of renaissance works, as well as baroque and classical literature, enlarging on their basic instrumentation by the occasional use of oboes d'amour, a second English horn, or the contra-bassoon "conducting listeners into new sound regions of chamber music. " Formed in 1971, the group has performed throughout Czechoslovakia and in many other countries.
Thomas Gallant is one of the 1983-84 Concert Artists Guild winners. A member of the New Orleans Philharmonic, he has also appeared with the Spoleto Festival. He graduated from the Indiana University School of Music where he studied with Jerry Sirucek. He will make his New York debut at the Carnegie Recital Hall on December 6th.
Charles-David Lehrer appeared in a faculty recital at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on September 25; he was assisted by Nancy Lehrer, oboist; Janet Atherton, bassoonist; Dorothy Ornest, piano and harpsichord; and other faculty artists. The program included Franz Schubert's Sonata in B-fiat Major, Op. 30 (1818) in Mr. Lehrer's own arrangement; Mozart/Nikolaus Simrock's Duos from the Marriage of Figaro (there are twelve of these available in Universal Edition 16773, ed.); Wayne Barlow's The Winter's Passed; Ravel's Piece en forme de Habanera; Bozza's 1939 Fantasie Pastorale; and Jan Dismas Zelenka's Sonata No. 2.
Andrew D. Brown, director of double reed ensembles at Central Missouri State University at Warrensburg, presented his groups in a recital on July 19. Repertoire included works of Corette and Prokofiev for four bassoons; a Handel sonata for two oboes and continuo; Chris Weait's marches from the American Revolution; and Giovanni Legrenzi's Sonata, Op. 10, No. 1, originally for four violins but played on four oboes in this performance. Participating artists included Mary Niermann, Patrick Larkin, Russell Hook, and Andrew Brown, oboists; and bassoonists Debra Jackson, Karel Lowery, Andrew Brown, and Mark Brown.
Thomas Stacy performed Telemann's A Major Concerto for oboe d'amore and the Donizetti English horn Concertino with the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra on October 2. He made his debut as a conductor in Mozart's Symphony No. 29 and Copland's Appalachian Spring. On October 7 he performed the world premiere of Ronald Roseman's Chanson for English Horn and Strings with the Fairfield (Connecticut) Symphony; the program also included Honegger's Concerto da Camera with John Solum, flutist. Later in the season he will perform with the Stamford Symphony, the Trenton Symphony, the Harrisburg Symphony, and in Cleveland with the Ohio Chamber Orchestra.