Established in December 1971, the International Double Reed Society (oboe and bassoon family), is a member-based organization made up of professional double reed players, amateurs, hobbyists, university/college instructors, music teachers, institutions, instrument manufacturers, double reed product retailers, reed makers, and enthusiasts. The society has over 3,000 members from 56 countries. Learn more about IDRS.
Subscription to the IDRS monthly e-newsletter
Full access to IDRS.org, including conference videos, past publications, livestreaming, and a Member Directory.
Receive our quarterly print journal, The Double Reed
Membership rates at the annual IDRS conference
Opportunities to compete in the annual Gillet-Fox and Norma Hooks Young Artist competitions
The Return of the Musical Instrument Collection to Amsterdam
In addition to its renowned paintings by Dutch masters, the Rijksmuseum boasts over one million objects, including a major collection of early musical instruments. The latter was mostly assembled in the last decades of the nineteenth century through the acquisition of private collections and a number of permanent loans by Dutch institutions, such as the Municipality of Amsterdam, the Dutch Royal Antiquarian Society, and others. Included among the collections of decorative arts and history, the musical instruments were displayed in the museum galleries up to World War II. In 1952, the Rijksmuseum’s musical instruments were given on long term loan to the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, which had already acquired the vast musical collection of the local banker Daniel François Scheurleer in 1933. De facto, from 1952 to 2012, the Gemeentemuseum’s collection became the only public collection of musical instruments in the Netherlands . Then in 2012, after 60 years, the Rijksmuseum instruments were returned to Amsterdam, and partly displayed in the museum’s refurbished galleries. Over 3,000 musical instruments belonging to the Gemeentemuseum (recently renamed the Kunstmuseum Den Haag) remained in The Hague.
