Editor's Note: This profile of Elaine Douvas first appeared in The Atlanta Journal and Constitution and is reprinted here with Miss Douvas' permission. She has recently been appointed to a position in the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.
The oboe is a difficult instrument to play, good performers are hard to find, and for a young woman to hold the position of principal oboist with a major orchestra is an extraordinary achievement.
But Elaine Douvas fills the bill. She is 24 years old and has a firm grip on the principal oboist's chair with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Miss Douvas, whose hometown is Port Huron, Mich. came to the Atlanta Symphony in 1973. A former student of the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and the Cleveland Institute of Music, she had performed as the principal oboist with the Akron Symphony and the Chicago Chamber Players.
In Atlanta, Miss Douvas' life is a round of performing with the symphony, teaching at Georgia State University, teaching a few private students, making reeds for her oboe and, always, practicing. Now that reed-making is one which requires explanation.
The oboe is the treble reed instrument in the orchestra the high-voiced "shepherd's pipe" sound that gives the pastoral quality to rustic sounding works, the "Pan pipe" sound to many others, and the baroque, ornate quality to many other works. Like the violin, it is an instrument for lyrical expression.
It is made of wood and its bore is conical. It has fingering keys like other woodwind instruments -- flute, clarinet, bassoon and so on.
But the thing which makes it unusual is the mouthpiece which is made of two very carefully shaped, thin reeds which are joined together at their base. The reeds are cut from special cane from southern France or some other Mediterranean climes.
Like most serious oboists, Miss Douvas makes her own reed mouthpieces. She explained that she works toward making "all around" reeds, but some of them turn out to sound best for solo passages, and some others are best for passages in which the orchestra plays loudly.
So oboists have a preoccupation which sets them apart from other symphony players. One reason is that a sour note produced by an oboist is likely to be embarrassingly apparent to everyone.
"When it happens, l try to forget it the minute it happens," Miss Douvas said. "If you dwell on the mistake, you will keep doing it every time it comes up again."
Miss Douvas knows something about making music in general, because she has studied piano, violin, and the French horn. She continued playing the piano until recently, and her favorite composer is Chopin.
Conductor Robert Shaw and others have been copious in their praise of Miss Douvas, who plays with a marvelous control. Her playing is lyrical and expressive, as well as facile.
"I practice just as much as is necessary for the works that I will have to perform in a week," she said. "It may be a lot, maybe not so much. The more I practice, the more reeds I use and the more reeds I have to make."
"I like to cook, but with playing, teaching, and practicing, I spend the rest of my time making reeds."
The radio broadcasts of the symphony performances over the public station. WABE, are a big help to her she said. "Yes, I listen to them all. Especially if I've used different reeds during the performance. Hearing the actual sounds has made a great difference for me."
Miss Douvas will perform in the next concert of the Atlanta Symphony Chamber Players on Jan. 11 at which time the program will include a Mozart Piano and Wind Quintet and a septet by Johann Hummel for piano, winds, and strings.
Another aspect of Miss Douvas' career which she finds most satisfying is her participation since the summer of 1974 in the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
"It is so refreshing just to be there," she said. "It's the most glorious place to go after a concert season, and I hope that I can continue to be part of it."