At the 1986 Annual Meeting in WinstonSalem, North Carolina, the I.D.R.S. conferred honorary membership upon oboist and teacher Robert Sprenkle and bassoonist and composer Victor Bruns.
Robert Sprenkle was born October 27, 1914. Upon graduation from high school, he received two college scholarship offers: from CarnegieMellon in engineering, and from the Eastman School of Music in oboe. Howard Hanson convinced him to enter Eastman, which he did in 1932. In 1936 he graduated with a Bachelor's degree and the Performer's Certificate. At Eastman, his teachers included Arthur Foreman and Robert Bloom, who was elected to honorary membership in I.D.R.S. in 1985.
Sprenkle joined the Eastman -Rochester Orchestra, now the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, in 1936 as 2nd oboist and English hornist. The following year he became principal oboist, a position he held until 1985, for a total tenure in the orchestra of 49 years.
He also was Professor of Oboe at the Eastman School of Music from 1937-1982. Many of his former students now hold positions in major orchestras in the U.S. and abroad.
He co-authored with David Ledet The Art Of Oboe Playing, one of the most widely-used books of its type.
Mr. Sprenkle's solo recordings have been issued by RCA, Columbia and Mercury records.
Bob has not quite retired, as he will be teaching at Ithaca College on a sabbatical replacement in 1986-87.
For biographical information on Victor Bruns, see the following article by William Waterhouse.