Pierre Feit, described by the Berlin, Tagesspiegel as a "...phenomenal oboist", was born in Lothringen, Germany, in 194 1. He has studied with J. B. Schlee in Es
sen and graduated from the Folkwang Hochschule, Essen, in 1964. Even before his graduation, he became solo-oboist with the Stadtischen Orchesters Essen until
1972, when his emerging career as a soloist and teacher at the Folkwang Hochschule (since 1967) led him to forsake his orchestral position. In August Mr. Feit bril
liantly performed the Peter von Winter Concerto in F Major for oboe and orchestra with the AIMS orchestra at
the IDRS conference in Graz. He also served as one of the adjudicators for the Gillet performance competition.

Valerie Sergeevic Popov was born in September, 1937, in Il'inskaya, near Moscow, as the son of a family of musicians. In 1949 he began studying music and played trumpet for eight years, before taking up the bassoon in 1958. From 1960-66 he studied at the Moscow Conservatory and became solo-bassoonist with the Staatlichen Symphonieorchesters der USSR in 1963. In 1963 and 1965 he won the I st prize at bassoon competition in Leningrad and Budapest. He has performed and recorded many of the famous works of the bassoon repertoire), among them concerti by Vivaldi, Spisak, Tomasi, Pauer, and Jolivet. He has also had many works written for him by Soviet composers, such as recent compositions by Gubajdullina, and Levitin. In Graz Mr. Popov performed a beautiful Sonata for Solo Bassoon by the Russian composer Edison Denison (1929), and an encore from a new work for solo bassoon by Gubajdullina. His reception was both excited and very enthusiastic .

Benjamin Kohon was born in Odessa, Russia, in July, 1890, and came to America when he was only a year old. He studied bassoon and piano with his father, Markus, and in 1908 at the age of 18 he became solo bassoonist with the New York Philharmonic - where both he and his father enjoyed playing under Gustav Mahler. (He was promoted to I st Bassoon by Mahler, himself, when the first player couldn't staccato up the Leonore 3rd Overture!)

In 1912 he became solo bassoonist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and in 1915 he accepted a similar position with Diaghileff's Ballet Russe.

After a period as a musician in the U.S. Navy during the war he returned to New York as a member of the National Symphony in 1920, and shortly thereafter returned to the New York Philharmonic as principal bassoon when the two orchestras merged. From 1947 until his retirement in 1956 he was solo bassoon with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. He was also bassoon teacher to a whole generation of distinguished artists such as Sol Schoenbach. Mr Kohon is one of the Honorary Members of the IDRS.

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