Sarah Roper
President
roper@idrs.orgSolo Oboe of the “Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla”, Spain, since 1996. Sarah was born in New Zealand, grew up in the UK and studied the oboe at the Royal Academy of Music, London with George Caird and Celia Nicklin and at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Karlsruhe, Germany with Thomas Indermühle, graduating with distinction. 2008-2009 Associate Principal Oboe of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, NZ and 1995-1996 Associate Principal Oboe of the “Orquesta Ciudad de Granada”, Spain. Guest Principal oboe with Klangforum, Vienna, SWR Orchester, Germany, BBC Philharmonic, Hallé and Royal Scottish National Orchestra among others. Sarah teaches oboe at “Fundación MpMusic” and forms part of the oboe department at the “Escuela Superior de Música de Alto Rendimiento (ESMAR)”. She has collaborated as professor of the Master’s degree in Orchestral Studies at the “Academia de Estudios Orquestales at the Barenboim-Said Foundation” in Seville and is regularly invited to perform as a soloist, chamber musician, to give masterclasses and to take part in competition juries, nationally and internationally. CD “Quartets for Oboe and Strings” in 2015 and the digital tracks "Fantasy for Oboe” by Malcolm Arnold in 2017 and world premiere recordings of “Cuarteto con Oboe” by Jesús Torres in 2019 and “Silentium Amoris” for oboe and piano by Jesús Torres with Ignacio Torner in 2020 with the Oboe Classics. Sarah is Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and is a Howarth of London LXV oboe artist. Sarah is a founding board member of ADCS (Seville Double Reed Society), President of AFOES (Spanish Double Reed Society) and formed part of the hosting team for IDRS 2018 in Granada.
Close
Eric Stomberg
Immediate Past President
stomberg@idrs.orgEric Stomberg maintains an active schedule with positions as Professor of Bassoon at the University of Kansas, Director of Music for Summer Programs at Interlochen Center for the Arts, Instructor of Bassoon at Interlochen Arts Academy, artist-faculty member of the Filarmónica Joven De Colombia, and as President of the International Double Reed Society. He has held orchestral positions with City Music Cleveland, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. Stomberg has held guest residencies and masterclasses at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, Florida State University, Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and University of Iowa among many others. His recent festival participation includes the Asian Double Reed Association, Colombian Bassoon Festival, University of Costa Rica Double Reed Festival, Spanish Double Reed Association, and the Sarasota Music Festival. In addition to concerto performances Stomberg has been featured on numerous recordings including Victor Bruns: Music for Bassoon-Eric Stomberg and Friends and Jennifer Higdon’s Dark Wood (Naxos). Stomberg received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Kansas.
Close
Jacqueline Wilson
Vice President
wilson@idrs.orgBassoonist Dr. Jacqueline Wilson is an active performer, pedagogue, collaborator, and advocate. She currently serves as Principal Bassoonist of the Washington Idaho Symphony and Assistant Professor of Bassoon and Theory at Washington State University where she performs with the Solstice Faculty Wind Quintet. She also serves as bassoon faculty at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute. As an active soloist and chamber musician, she regularly presents recitals, masterclasses, and clinics including engagements at the International Double Reed Society Conference (Boulder, CO, Tampa, FL, Columbus, GA, Redlands, CA), the International Alliance for Women in Music Conference (Corvallis, OR), the Meg Quigley Bassoon Symposium (Tucson, AZ, Los Angeles, CA), and the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY). She is a founding member of Ensemble 337, an innovative bassoon and marimba duo with percussionist Dr. Christopher Wilson. An eager contributor to the double reed community, Dr. Wilson currently serves as a Co-Executive Director of the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Bassoon Symposium, Grants Coordinator for the International Double Reed Society, and co-hosts the Double Reed Dish podcast with oboist Dr. Galit Kaunitz.
As an avid supporter of new music, Dr. Wilson (Yakama) frequently collaborates with composers on the creation of new works to expand the repertoire of the bassoon. She is especially passionate about embracing diversity in her performances by elevating music featuring underrepresented perspectives and lived experiences, with a special focus on collaborating with Indigenous composers. In this capacity, she has premiered, commissioned, and recorded works by composers Juantio Becenti, Connor Chee, Louis W. Ballard, and Raven Chacon, among others. These efforts can be heard on her debut album, Works for the Bassoon by Native American Composers (WSU Recordings). Expansion of this work was supported by a WSU New Faculty Seed Grant in the form of an international Indigenous artistic collaboration with Māori composers Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, Takerei Komene, and Phillip Brownlee as well as an Artist Trust Fellowship to fund the commissioning of a concerto for bassoon and strings by Connor Chee. She also actively composes new pieces and creates resources that facilitate the performance of works from the 20th century and beyond. Wilson’s composition Dance Suite for Solo Bassoon was awarded the 2022 PatsyLu Prize for outstanding work by a BIPOC composer in the 41st Search for New Music Competition by the International Alliance for Women in Music. Her article, “Strategies for Learning Luciano Berio’s Sequenza XII,” co-authored with Dr. Christin Schillinger (Ithaca College), has been published in The Double Reed and the Journal de L’Association Bassons (France). Similarly, her dissertation, an analysis and performance guide of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Concerto for Bassoon and Low Strings, has been utilized by noteworthy bassoonists worldwide.
Dr. Wilson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Bassoon Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa. She is also a graduate of Boston University's College of Fine Arts and Eastern Washington University. Her principal teachers include Benjamin Coelho, Matthew Ruggiero, and Lynne Feller-Marshall.
Close
Jeanine Krause
Secretary
krause@idrs.orgJeanine Krause brings people together with music for the refreshment of the spirit. Praised as “delightful and so refreshing” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), she performs on oboes and recorders with orchestras and as a soloist worldwide. Also a teacher and coach, Jeanine augments in-person experiences with innovative online learning, especially for oboe reed makers and historical oboists. In 2019, Jeanine established the European Division of Symphonie des Dragons, an oboe band founded in 2011 on the US East Coast by Gonzalo Ruiz and fashioned after Les Douze Grand Hautbois of Versailles. Her chamber ensemble, The Sprightly Companions explores conversant and expressive pearls of 18th Century repertoire. Jeanine has performed with many leading historical performance orchestras including the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, the Bach Ensemble, Mercury Baroque, Musica Angelica/Wiener Akademie and as a soloist with the Dallas Bach Society, L’Arpa Festante and the American Baroque Opera Company. Jeanine studied modern oboe at St. Olaf College with Rhadamas Angelucci and Merilee Klemp and at the University of Nebraska with William McMullen. She did further studies in musicology at Gutenberg Universität, in Baroque Oboe at Peter-Cornelius-Konservatorium with Matthew Peaceman and doctoral study in historical performance practice at Boston University with Marc Schachman, Joshua Rifkin and Martin Pearlman. Born in the USA, Jeanine dances Argentine Tango and lives in Germany with her son and a boa named Tiny.
Close
Esther Williams
Treasurer
williams@idrs.orgBorn and raised in London, Esther Williams began her musical journey at a young age, picking up the violin at four years old, opening up a lifelong passion to music. Fiercely independent and pro-active, she taught herself music theory, piano, guitar, recorder, alto saxophone and, by the time she was 16, was adept on eight instruments, including cor anglais, recorder (descant, treble and tenor), singing and the instrument that would define her journey: the oboe. Further advancing her talents, she studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, receiving tutelage from esteemed oboists such as John Anderson, Catriona Southall, Sarah-Jayne Porsmoguer, Murray (Sandy) Johnson and Gordon Hunt. Furthermore, Esther has participated in masterclasses from François Leleux, Sarah Francis, Ludovic Armin Cora, Albrecht Mayer, and is currently studying with the world-renowned oboist, Nicholas Daniel OBE. Owing to her versatility as a performer and distinct emotive sound, she is a highly sought-after freelance player, and has professionally performed across the UK and Europe, encompassing musicals, operas, marching bands, solo and orchestral work. Esther balances her musical career with a role in Finance at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). She also teaches at the Royal Hospital School, Richmond Music Trust, gives private tuition and has a small reed making business. Esther is currently a member of the Chineke! Orchestra, the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of 'majority' Black & ethnically diverse musicians, founded in 2015 by Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE. In addition to her performative duties, Esther also serves as a Woodwind Mentor for Chineke! Junior Orchestra, who recently reached the semi-finals on Britain's Got Talent 2020. Striving for racial equality within the classical music industry, Esther has spoken on numerous platforms to spark unity, which recently include the International Double Reed Society Symposium 2020. She also sits as a committee member for Freelance Musicians for Musicians Union, British Double Reed Society, and RAM’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Access and Participation committees, with the ultimate aim of ensuring inclusivity for musicians from all ethnic backgrounds. Continuing to expand her skills, Esther has undertaken her own research and has studied courses revolving around Black Classical Music composers/history. In addition, she is studying conducting with Tianyi Lu. In her spare time, Esther enjoys going to the gym, reading, hiking, swimming, boxing and painting.
https://www.estherwilliams.co.uk/
Close
Yiu Song Lam
At large – Orchestra/Chamber (oboe)
yiu@idrs.orgHong Kong-born Yiu Song-lam is a distinguished oboist who has worked in the music industry as performer, educator and entrepreneur. He is the Head of Winds, Brass and Percussion of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He has been Visiting Professor of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music since 2016 and was elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) by the Royal Academy of Music for his significant contributions to the music profession. A graduate of the HKAPA, Yiu was awarded the Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarship to study at the Queensland Conservatorium in Australia, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Rotterdam Conservatorium in Holland and at the Köln Musikhochschule in Germany, where he received the Diplom der Künstlerischen Abschlußprüfung with distinction. Yiu is the founding Artistic Director of Hong Kong Wind Kamerata and the Vice-president of the Asian Double Reed Association; he is highly regarded for his contributions in developing the double reed network regionally and internationally.
He has worked extensively as soloist with renowned orchestras worldwide and has been invited to perform with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner and with the London Virtuosi on their Spain tour. He is frequently invited to perform at prestigious music festivals around the world. His students have won major prizes in many international competitions and have been appointed major positions at renowned orchestras across Europe and Asia. Yiu receives regular invitations to give masterclasses in Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, École Normale de Musique de Paris, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Lyon in France, Leipzig and Stuttgart Musikhochschule in Germany, and to adjudicate at international competitions worldwide such as the Muri International Oboe Competition in Switzerland, the IDRS Fernard Gillet-Hugo Fox International Oboe Competition, IDRS International Young Artist Oboe Competition, the Concours International
Musique de Chambre in Lyon, France, and the prestigious Geneva Competition 2021. Yiu attributes his achievements to the efforts of his teachers and mentors, including Chan Kwok Cheung, Martin Gatt, Peter Cooper, Anthony Camden, Celia Nicklin, George Caird, Emanuel Abbühl, Christian Schneider, Thomas Indermühle, Lothar Koch and Maurice Bourgue.
Close
Monica Ellis
At large – Orchestra/Chamber (bassoon)
ellis@idrs.orgBassoonist Monica Ellis is a founding member of the ground-breaking, Grammy nominated wind quintet, Imani Winds, who in their 25th season dazzles audiences with their dynamic playing, adventurous programming and commitment to new works and collaborations. A natural organizer, Ms. Ellis is the co-artistic and executive director for Imani Winds and their annual Chamber Music Festival and treasurer for their Foundation. Influential teachers include Mark Pancerev, of the Pittsburgh Symphony, George Sakakeeny at Oberlin Conservatory (BM), and Frank Morelli at The Juilliard School (MM) and Manhattan School of Music (PS). She has performed and recorded with dozens of world-renowned artists and organizations spanning genres and styles from the likes of Wayne Shorter to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. As a celebrated educator, Ms. Ellis has given masterclasses and solo performances across the country. Ms. Ellis is a frequent commentator on critical discussions regarding race, gender and entrepreneurship in classical music. She is an advisor to the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition, serves on the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Education and IDRS Commissioning Committees and is a board member of Concert Artists Guild. In February 2021, Imani Winds released its GRAMMY NOMINATED 9th studio recording entitled BRUITS. Ms. Ellis is on the faculty at Manhattan School of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music.
Close
Ravi Shankar Viana Domingues
At large – Associate Organizations
domingues@idrs.orgProfessor at the Federal University of Paraíba, Ravi began his musical education at the Escola de Música de Brasília. After completing his Bachelor's degree in Music at the University of Brasilia, he received his Künstlerische Ausbildung from the Superior School of Music in Rostock, Germany, and later earned a Master's degree in Music Performance from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. He has been a member of several orchestras in Brazil and Germany, among them the Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin, the Neuebrandenburger Philarmonie, the Orquestra Experimental de Repertório, Orquestra da Universidade de São Paulo, the Orquestra de Câmara da USP and Orquestra Sinfônica de Santo André. Ravi has also been a guest musician at the Junge Künstler Bayreuth Festival, the XII Amazon Opera Festival, the XV and XVII Virtuosi (Recife), and the Vertentes Arts Festival - Tiradentes International Arts Festival. He was part of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas on tour in Latin America under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel and won the competitions Young Soloists Eleazar de Carvalho and Young Soloists of the Experimental Repertory Orchestra and was Assistant Principal Oboist of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Minas Gerais from 2010 to 2016. He is currently a member of the Center for the Study of Musical Gesture and Expression at the School of Music of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, where he completed his Doctorate in Music Performance, researching possible approaches for the timbral characterization and systematic development of the main oboe reed scraping styles in Brazil, through acoustic descriptors.
Close
Cynthia Hanson
At large – Business
hanson@idrs.orgCynthia Hanson is the CEO of Forrest Music Inc. She holds a B.M. in Bassoon Performance from University of Colorado Boulder where she became a member of IDRS in 1984 and served as Secretary for KKY Music Fraternity. She completed 1 year of graduate study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1989. Today, she has a passion for the music business believing in the power of community and connection in the double reed community. Prior to owning Forrests Music, she was an employee of Forrests Music. She is a member of Musician's Union Local 6 and performs with a variety of orchestras throughout the San Francisco Area known affectionately as the "Freeway Philharmonic". She was inspired by her mentor, Peter Klatt, to continue the legacy of service and community held in the Forrests Music organization. Today she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Paul Hanson, children, and a menagerie of pets.
Close
Michael DiPietro
At large – Avocational
dipietro@idrs.orgMichael A. DiPietro, MD has been a Pediatric Radiologist for 40 years at the University of Michigan where he is now Professor Emeritus of Radiology and Pediatrics. His “other life” began when he was drafted to play bassoon upon entering High School, stating that it later proved to be the best edict to which he ever acquiesced, although at first reluctantly. His teachers over the decades are IDRS members: Chris Weait, Robert Danziger, L. Hugh Cooper, and now Fernando Traba, Principal Bassoon Sarasota Orchestra. Michael was also influenced and inspired by other IDRS members who became good friends: Alan Goodman, C. Robert Reinert, and Loren Glickman. His major playing experience in the past 30 years was at University of Michigan as Principal Bassoonist x 20 years in Campus Symphony Orchestra and x 17 years in Life Sciences Orchestra. In Sarasota, FL Michael performs with the Sarasota-Bradenton Pops Orchestra, Anna Maria Island Chamber Orchestra, Lakewood Ranch Wind Ensemble, and Suncoast Concert Band. As an avocational player he never felt unwelcome or that his voice was ignored in IDRS, yet he is pleased that the new “At Large (Avocational)” Board position has been established and is honored to be the inaugural holder of that position. He regards IDRS as a wonderful organization with its merging of full time, part time, retired, and avocational musicians who have much to give and support each other and shines as a paradigm that STEM is better as STEAM (A = Arts).
CloseIDRS Staff
Cayla Bellamy
Communications Coordinator
bellamy@idrs.orgDr. Cayla Bellamy is a bassoonist and pedagogue based in Fort Collins, Colorado. Last season, Cayla embarked on a performance series as soloist with a variety of professional and collegiate ensembles, presenting contemporary concerti by Joan Tower, Libby Larsen, and James Stephenson. This series is scheduled to conclude in 2021 with a premiere performance of John Steinmetz’ newest commission, The Illusion of Separateness. She released her debut album, Double or Nothing (Mark Masters), in 2018 and is currently recording her second project, a collection of new compositions for bassoon titled American Bassoon Voices. Offstage, Cayla is an amateur endurance athlete with academic research focusing on coaching methodologies, burnout, and the intersections of artistic and athletic training. Cayla currently serves as Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Colorado State University, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate bassoon, chamber music, contemporary music performance, and pedagogy.
Close
Geoffrey Burgess
Oboe Editor
burgess@idrs.orgSince his student days in Sydney Australia, Geoffrey Burgess has had a passion for all things to do with the oboe. Discovering the Baroque oboe, he has worked over the course of his career with leading early music ensembles in Australia, Europe, and the US. His contributions to the history, repertoire, construction, performance, and culture of the oboe can be found in the New Grove Dictionary, and MGG, while The Oboe (Yale UP, 2004), co-authored with Bruce Haynes, is acknowledged as the standard reference work on the subject. His recent publications include Well-Tempered Woodwinds: Friedrich von Huene and the Making of Early Music in a New World (Indiana UP, 2015), a revisionist performance-practice manual entitled The Pathetick Musician: Moving an Audience in the Age of Eloquence (Oxford UP, 2016), and he is currently writing a historical novel on the life of Bach’s oboist with the provisional title The Thorn of the Honey Locust. Currently principal oboe with the Washington Bach Consort, Geoffrey teaches at the Eastman School of Music, and lives in Philadelphia with his harpsichordist husband Leon Schelhase.
Close
Amy Christensen
Membership Coordinator
membership@idrs.orgAmy is the Assistant Teaching Professor of oboe and English horn at Iowa State University, where she also teaches Introduction to Music Listening to more than 500 undergraduate students each semester. She recently published a digital textbook and complete curriculum called Between the Notes: the Music of Your Life for use in high school and college-level music appreciation courses. Amy also maintains a very active freelance career throughout Iowa and is currently the principal oboist of the Ottumwa Symphony and has performed as Acting Principal with the Des Moines, Dubuque, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Central Iowa, and Oskaloosa Symphonies as well as with the Des Moines Metro Opera. Before returning to Iowa to raise her four daughters, she actively performed with many ensembles in New England, including the New Haven Symphony, Wallingford Symphony, Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard, Lexington Symphony, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic, North Shore Philharmonic, Melrose Symphony, Dudley House Orchestra at Harvard and the Harvard Summer Pops Band as well as the Aspen Music Festival Chamber Orchestra, Festival Orchestra, and Symphonic Band. She earned her Master of Music at the renowned Yale School of Music, where she was a student of the beloved Ronald Roseman. In addition to her music career, Amy holds a Master of Library and Information Science from Simmons College in Boston. Her work as an archivist and librarian has taken her to the Harvard College Library, Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale University, Boston Symphony Archives, Slide Library at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Worcester Public Library History Collection, and the Iowa State University Music Library and Parks Library. In her spare time, Amy enjoys spending time with her four teenage daughters, digging in the garden, watching and photographing birds and insects, remodeling her house, and traveling to just about anywhere with an art museum or a beach.
Close
Ryan Romine
Bassoon Editor
romine@idrs.orgIn addition to working as the Bassoon Editor of The Double Reed, Ryan D. Romine serves as Associate Professor of Bassoon and Music Theory at Shenandoah Conservatory (Winchester, Virginia, USA). Originally from Newark, OH, Ryan holds his undergraduate degree in music education from The Ohio State University and his MM and DMA in bassoon performance from Michigan State University. In the summers, he plays bassoon with the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival (Harrisonburg, VA) and teaches at Bocal Majority’s Virginia Double Reed Camp, located at Shenandoah University. His 2013 debut solo album of French contest pieces, Première, was hailed as “an absolutely brilliant CD…bringing back from oblivion some truly beautiful music, played with precision and lyricism…”. In early 2018, Ryan, along with TrevCo Music Publishing, released the first-ever publication of Jacques Ibert’s Morceau de lecture for bassoon and piano.
Close
Frank Swann
Administrative Director & Treasurer; Exhibits Coordinator
swann@idrs.orgFrank Swann studied oboe with Robert Sprenkle at the University of Rochester and english horn with Dick White formally english hornist of the National Symphony. He graduated from Howard University with a degree in Chemical Engineering. Frank worked at Eastman Kodak for 9 years before relocating to Los Angeles. For 25 years Frank owned and ran a digital prepress / digital printing business. During his time in LA, Frank was also a busy freelance oboist. He has since relocated to Washington, DC where he owns Capitol Cane, a double-reed cane business. For the past several years, Frank has assisted Norma Hooks with setting up the vendor exhibits for the IDRS conferences and took over the role of Exhibits Coordinator starting with the 2017 conference in Appleton Wisconsin. Frank is very excited to be able to combine his corporate, small business, and double reed backgrounds to serve the IDRS.
Close
Ed Craig
Graphic Design, The Double Reed
craig@idrs.orgEd Craig, IDRS Membership Coordinator, has been involved in the production of The Double Reed since 1997. He stepped into the layout and design role in 2000 and has been involved with various IDRS design projects over the years. Due to his geographical proximity to Norma Hooks, and having worked closely with her for almost 20 years, Ed seemed a logical successor to the membership duties that Norma performed so well. While not a double reed player, he is a musician (classical guitar, flute, and recorder) with a passion for many different styles and genres. He began his musical training at a young age on the recorder and performed locally in and around his hometown of Pennsburg, Pennsylvania with the Eclectic Consort playing Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. He began studying classical guitar at age 16 and dedicated most of his musical efforts to Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. He studied for a number of years at Idaho State University with professor Bill O’Brien (retired) and performed in ensemble and trio with Bill and Jean Kennedy, now instructor of guitar at McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas. Ed has performed in duo with classical guitarist, composer and arranger Jeff Doll and has recorded a number of his compositions for duo and trio. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife Liz and is a stay at home dad to two great boys, Everett and Ambrose.
CloseVolunteers
Michael Burns
IDRS Archivist
archive@idrs.orgMichael Burns is hailed as a dynamic performer and teacher of bassoon. He is Professor of Bassoon at UNC-Greensboro and is a Moosmann Bassoon Artist. His critically acclaimed CD Primavera: Music for Bassoon and Piano by Bassoonists was released by Mark Masters. A new CD Glass Ghosts is due to be released in 2022. Burns plays principal with the Asheville Symphony and North Carolina Opera and is a frequent performer with the Charlotte Symphony as well as playing with the North Carolina and Greensboro Symphonies. In the summers he is faculty of the Clazz International Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy. An avid and enthusiastic teacher, he is also active as a solo and chamber musician in the EastWind and Blue Mountain Ensembles performing recitals and master classes throughout North America, Germany, China, Italy, and the South Pacific. Burns has an extensive discography and is an active composer with many pieces published by TrevCo Music and others. He is Archivist for the IDRS and was co-host for the IDRS 2003 Conference in Greensboro, NC. https://michaelburnsbassoon.com
Close
Joshua Gray
Theses/Dissertations Coordinator
gray@idrs.orgJoshua Gray has a musical background that began in childhood with choir, piano, trumpet, violin, and later principal horn with the Montgomery Youth Orchestra. While attending Oberlin College, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Language and Literature, he was finally able to realize his longtime dream of playing the oboe. Following years in private industry and public service, he has completed a Master in Library and Information Science (MLIS) and Advanced Certificate in Strategic Management of Digital Assets and Services from San José State University. He is currently pursuing a Post-Master's Certificate in Data Science. In addition to double reeds, his professional interests include issues related to music librarianship, academic librarianship, cataloging and metadata, database management, research data management (RDM), digital asset management (DAM), library data services, information visualization, and digital archives. He currently works in library administration at a community college library in San Francisco, CA, where he also serves on the Diversity Committee of the Participatory Governance Council. When not studying or working on other projects, he enjoys playing oboe and viola and composing and arranging for a variety of instruments and ensembles. As a librarian, he is dedicated to helping make information resources more discoverable, accessible, and usable for the communities who need them. He is very excited to combine his personal and professional interests as database coordinator for the IDRS Bibliography of Double Reed Theses & Dissertations and Zoom coordinator for the Virtual Symposium livestream events.
Close
Alba Moreno Serrano
Sponsor-a-Member Coordinator
moreno@idrs.orgAlba is an oboist, musicologist and cultural manager from Spain. She graduated from Suzhou University (China) in oboe performance and holds a Master’s Degree in Musicology at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). As an education activist, she founded Festival Virtual de Oboe in 2019, a virtual festival that brings accessible education in oboe and related fields to Spanish-speaking oboists, especially Latin American students. She has given concerts and conferences in concerts halls and high institutions around Europe, Asia and America. She is passionate about arts, education, management, and technology. She combines her interests as an oboist, teacher, entrepreneur and researcher in the fields of ancient music, contemporary music, popular music and gender studies. In her spare time, Alba enjoys reading, learning new skills, going to the gym, and discovering new places.
Close
Sophia-Patchin
Communications Design Assistant
patchin@idrs.orgSophia Patchin graduated from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) with Bachelor's degrees in both Bassoon Performance and Instrumental Music Education in May 2023. She is currently a Graduate Assistant at UNI, pursuing a Master’s degree in Wind Band Conducting. As an undergraduate student, Sophia performed with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, UNI Wind Ensemble, Northern Iowa Symphony Orchestra, and various chamber ensembles. She is an alumnus of Sigma Alpha Iota and a current member of Pi Kappa Lambda. She has studied under Jennifer Wohlenhaus-Bloomberg, Cayla Bellamy, Marcia Martin, and Ben Roidl-Ward.
Close
Meghan Woodard
Oboe Recording Reviews, The Double Reed
woodard@idrs.orgMeghan Woodard enjoys a rich career as an oboist, oboe professor and scholar based in the Greater Philadelphia area. Meghan currently holds positions as Professor of Applied Oboe Lessons at Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College, Immaculata University, and the Shipley School. In addition to teaching, Meghan is a sought-after orchestral and chamber musician on oboe, English horn, and Baroque oboe. She regularly performs with the Reading Symphony Orchestra, Symphony in C, the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, and is a member of Revolution Winds—an internationally-performing woodwind quintet known for musical activism and recent residencies at the Aruba Symphony Festival and Drexel University. Meghan holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Oboe Performance from Temple University as well degrees from the University of Iowa and Ithaca College.
CloseCompetition Committee
Lyndon Watts
2024 Gillet-Fox Competition for Bassoon, Chair
watts@idrs.orgLyndon Watts became principal bassoonist of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 22. After 18 years in this position Lyndon chose to move back to his home country Australia to accept the position of lecturer in music (bassoon) at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (MCM). Since 2019 he has been Convenor of the annual MCM Concerto-Aria Competition, and since 2020 Convenor of the MCM Early Music Studio. He is a founding member of the Australian World Orchestra and has performed as a soloist or guest principal with numerous European and Australian ensembles on both modern and period instruments. In 2002 he became the first Australian woodwind player to win a prize in the prestigious ARD International Music Competition, in combination with a special prize for the best interpretation of a newly commissioned solo work by Heinz Holliger, who has described Lyndon’s playing as possessing “an ideal balance between utmost precision and wild spontaneity.” From 2005 to 2015 he was professor of bassoon in Switzerland at the Berne University of the Arts, where he also taught chamber music and contemporary music. Lyndon has premiered many compositions for bassoon by composers from his hometowns Munich and Melbourne. Most recently these included Elliott Gyger’s Elude for solo bassoon, two new works for bassoon and percussion by Miriama Young and Linda Verrier, Elizabeth Younan’s wind quintet Kismet, and the first performance of the bassoon and piano version of a new bassoon concerto by Matt Laing. Lyndon loves living close to the Australian bush and surf, and enjoys keeping fit with his partner and their three-year-old son. lyndonwatts.com
2023 Competition Advisory Committees
Jennifer Auerbach
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Chairperson
Jennifer Auerbach [CEO] is the founder of the Bocal Majority organization. She holds a bachelor’s degree in bassoon performance from Chicago Musical College and master’s and doctoral degrees in music theory from the University of North Texas. She studied bassoon with Joseph Urbinato, Kathleen Reynolds, and Monte Perkins. She has taught private bassoon lessons in the Dallas metroplex since 1998 and has given numerous clinics at the Texas Music Educators’ Convention, the International Double Reed Society and many other conventions. Along Sally Bohls, she has co-authored a method book for first-year double-reed classes. Dr. Auerbach was a Fulbright grant recipient to study in Austria in 2005, she was the principal bassoonist of the Richardson Symphony for 8 years, and the contrabassoonist of the Lone Star Wind Orchestra. She resides in Richardson with her husband and cats.
Close
Catalina Guevara Klein
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Catalina Guevara Klein
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Catalina Klein holds a Graduate Diploma in Historical Performance from the Juilliard School, and a Master of Music Degree in Baroque Bassoon Performance from the University of Montreal. Since 2005, she traveled extensively through the USA, Canada, Europe and Latin America as a performer, pedagogue and community leader. She attended recognized early music festivals such as Oficina de Música Antigua de Curitiba (Brazil), Varmia Musica Academia (Poland) Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute (Canada), Tafelmusik Winter Institute (Canada), American Bach Soloists (San Francisco), Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute (Ohio), Oregon Bach Festival and Amherst Music Festival. Catalina has collaborated with different ensembles as Camerata Antiqua de Curitiba (Brazil), McGill Baroque Orchestra (Montreal), Ensemble Telemann (Montreal), Erathos (Montreal) and Juilliard 415 (New York). Catalina Guevara Klein is co-founder of the successful FEMUSC festival in Brazil and serves as its Coordinator of the Early Music Program focused on baroque, classical and colonial music performed on period instruments. She also launched the Mount Parnassus Foundation in Canada to foster the careers and performances of women in historical performance. She has performed operas and concerts featuring the early music scene conducted by Hank Knox, Barthold Kuijken, Luc Beauséjour, Jeffrey Thomas, Robert Mealy, Richard Egarr, Pablo Heras-Casado, Avi Stein, Nicholas McGegan and Ruben Valenzuela.
Close
Yoon Joo Hwang
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Yoon Joo Hwang
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Yoon Joo Hwang, Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Central Florida, has taught and performed throughout the U.S., Asia and Europe. Her multicultural education and performance backgrounds brought together a hybrid of teaching, research, and creative work nationally and internationally. Hwang was invited to give a lecture and perform including Columbia University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine, Yonsei University, Ewha Womans University, Hanyang University, Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and Shanghai Orchestra Academy. She has a diverse research portfolio and conducts interdisciplinary research, contributing in diverse ways to the field of music. Hwang has been invited to present scholarly research papers at meetings of the Association for Asian Studies, the Society of Ethnomusicology, the College Music Society, the International Double Reed Society, the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, the Asia-Pacific Symposium for Music Education Research (Tokyo, Japan) and the International Congress of the European Association for Music in Schools at the Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg (Germany). She was appointed to serve as Vice President of Korean Relations of the Asian Double Reed Association and founded and hosted the National Bassoon Meetup and National Bassoon Competitions for the 21st century bassoonists with key teachers in the United States. Recently, Hwang was appointed to serve as a Visiting Professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea and served as a Visiting Scholar at Korean National University of the Arts, a position that offers an unparalleled opportunity to advance her research into the influence of Western classical music on the modern contemporary era in Korea. Hwang earned a D.M.A. from the University of Colorado Boulder under the guidance of Yoshi Ishikawa and an M.M. from UCLA, where she studied with John Steinmetz. While studying at Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg in Germany, she worked with Günter Blahuschek of the Bamberger Symphoniker and Yoshinori Tominaga of the Universität Mozarteum. She also studied at USC with Shawn Mouser, Associate Principal Bassoonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and received a Performance Diploma from Boston University under Matthew Ruggiero.
CloseAndreas Oeste
Gillet-Fox International Competition – Oboe Chairperson
Andreas Oeste is an active performer, chamber musician, and educator who currently serves as Lecturer of Oboe at Pennsylvania State University, Principal Oboe of the Harrisburg Symphony, and oboist of the Pennsylvania Quintet. Andreas appears regularly as an orchestral performer, having held positions with the Lexington Philharmonic, Battle Creek Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, and Symphony of Northwest Arkansas among others. A frequent chamber musician, Andreas has performed across the United States and Europe as part of Market Square Concerts, the Wingra Wind Quintet, Chamber Music Michigan, AEPEX Contemporary Ensemble, and the Thy Festival in Denmark. He is featured often as an orchestral soloist, performing with orchestras including the Penns Woods Festival Orchestra, TACTUS Chamber Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony, Ann Arbor Camerata, Conway Symphony and more. Andreas holds prizes from several prominent international competitions, most notably from the Hugo-Fox Gillet Competition and the Barbirolli International Oboe Competition. He received his Doctorate of Musical Arts and Masters of Music in Oboe Performance and Chamber Music degrees from the University of Michigan, and Bachelors degrees in Oboe Performance and Music Composition from the University of Central Arkansas. His primary teachers include Nancy Ambrose King and Lorraine Duso.
Close
Galit Kaunitz
Gillet-Fox International Competition – Oboe Advisory Committee
Oboist Galit Kaunitz is the Associate Professor of Oboe at the University of Southern Mississippi. She performs solo and chamber music recitals with the Limelight Trio and Rintrah Duo, orchestral music with the Meridian, Gulf Coast, Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Mississippi Symphony Orchestras, and co-hosts the Double Reed Dish podcast with bassoonist Jacqueline Wilson. Galit explores themes of culture, and identity through her solo and chamber music recitals. She has been invited to perform at International Double Reed Society conferences in 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2022, and College Music Society conferences in 2016 and 2018. She works closely with composers to commission new works for the oboe, including Chiayu Hsu, Tõnu Korvits, Joshua Burel, Connor Chee, brin solomon, Mason Bynes, and Kate Pukinskis. Galit is a dedicated teacher who loves educating and empowering students. She is grateful to her teachers, Eric Ohlsson, Rebecca Henderson, Humbert Lucarelli, and Marilyn Krentzman, for doing the same for her.
Close
Seung-Eun Lee
Gillet-Fox International Competition – Oboe Advisory Committee
Seung-Eun Lee was born in 1970, in Seoul/Korea. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Seoul National University in 1992. In 1992 Seung-Eun came to Europe, studied with Prof.Thomas Indermühle in Zürich, with Prof.Emmanuel Abbühl in Rotterdam and with Prof.Maurice Bourgue in Geneva. She also studied in Oslo and in London and for chamber music studying in Karlsruhe and for Baroque Oboe with Prof. Benoit Laurent in Frankfurt. In October 2005 Ms. Lee was appointed as a Section Leader & Principal Oboe at the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Australia. During 4 years of her stay in Australia, her appearances included performances at the Adelaide Festival; Strauss Concerto with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, at OzAsia Festival, and Contemporary Music Festival, Australian Double Reed Society Conferences and many other music events. She also has taught oboe and chamber music classes at the Elder Conservatory of Music (University of Adelaide). Seung-Eun moved back to Europe in 2009 and now lives in Germany where she teaches at the University of Music and Performing Art Mannheim. She regularly performs as a freelance musician in orchestras in Europe and Asia. Over the course of her 30-years’ career as an oboist, she has been invited to many international music festivals & concert halls, such as: Lutoslawski Festival in London, Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam, Vivaldi Festival in Mexico city, Huatulco Music Festival in Mexico, Ljubljana Festival and Hanoi Contemporary Music Festival. Also as a chamber musician she worked with " Quatuor de Francis Poulenc" in France, ASO Quintet and ASO Wind Soloist in Australia. She founded Trio d'anche SUAVE (2004) and Trio Cornopia (2017). Trio SUAVE’s first CD “Camino” was released in 2012. Seung-Eun’s great passion is to help young musicians, which has led her to give masterclasses and seminars in Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, Korea, Japan, China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Columbia, including guest professor ANAM in Australia and National Conservatory of Music Zagreb, Branimir Slokar Academy (2012-2018). She has been a tutor at Ljubljana International Orchestra Academy since 2012. Discovering her love and passion for healing and helping humanity, Seung-Eun, in 2019 has expanded her career to become a sound-massage practitioner. She coaches musicians & non-musicians in self-healing, sound meditation, breathing awareness and deep relaxation.
Close2024 Competition Advisory Committees
Jennifer Auerbach
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Chairperson
Jennifer Auerbach [CEO] is the founder of the Bocal Majority organization. She holds a bachelor’s degree in bassoon performance from Chicago Musical College and master’s and doctoral degrees in music theory from the University of North Texas. She studied bassoon with Joseph Urbinato, Kathleen Reynolds, and Monte Perkins. She has taught private bassoon lessons in the Dallas metroplex since 1998 and has given numerous clinics at the Texas Music Educators’ Convention, the International Double Reed Society and many other conventions. Along Sally Bohls, she has co-authored a method book for first-year double-reed classes. Dr. Auerbach was a Fulbright grant recipient to study in Austria in 2005, she was the principal bassoonist of the Richardson Symphony for 8 years, and the contrabassoonist of the Lone Star Wind Orchestra. She resides in Richardson with her husband and cats.
Close
Erin Hannigan
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Erin Hannigan is the Principal Oboe of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and was previously a member of the Rochester Philharmonic. She has been guest Principal Oboist with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra. She spends the summer months performing and teaching at summer festivals, including The Strings Festival, Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra (NYO), the National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, Festival Napa Valley, and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival (Switzerland).
Hannigan has recorded three CDs on the Crystal Records label, and also recorded Jeremy Gill’s Serenada Concertante, a piece she commissioned and premiered with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
She is Adjunct Associate Professor of Oboe at Southern Methodist University and is also co-founder of nonprofit Artists for Animals. Applying the arts to community outreach earned her the “Ford Award for Excellence in Community Service”, awarded to five musicians nationally through the League of American Orchestras and the Ford Motor Company.
Hannigan attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as a student of James Caldwell, and received her Master’s Degree, the Performers Certificate, and the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Eastman School of Music as a student of Richard Killmer.
Close
Yoon Joo Hwang
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Lin Qing, the first prize winner of the 33rd IDRS International Double Reed Society Gillet-Fox Oboe competition in 2013; released his debut album with EMI, "The World of Oboe"; the principle oboist of German Tempus Konnex Modern Chamber Orchestra as well as the guest principle Oboist of Italian Milanskara Grand Theatre. He currently teaches at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, die Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig Germany and the Xi'an Conservatory of music in China.
Qing began to play oboe at the age of 10 with his uncle Chen Zhonghui, who was an Professor of Fujian Art Vocational College (Fujian Art School), it was also the school where he spent 6 years to complete his middle school study. He admitted into the Xi'an Conservatory of Music in 2001 for bachelor degree, where he studied with Prof. Zhao Baoping. After graduation in 2005, He attended the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a full scholarship, studied with Prof.Yiu Song Lam to complete profession diploma. While studying, he was the principle oboist of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts Orchestra. During that time, He was often invited by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Small Symphony Orchestra. He achieved his first Master Degree to study with Professor Maurice Bourgue at Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève in 2007. Later on, he completed his second Master Degree in soloist with Professor Jean-louis Capezzali at Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne. In 2013, he successfully obtained the Maisterklasse Diploma at Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig, studied with Prof. Nick Deutsch where he had a fellowship.Two years later, he began to teach at the Hochschule till now.
While being in Europe, he worked with many famous orchestras and top conductors and musicians. Such as, he worked with Milanskara Theater in Italy, conducted by Maestro Riccardo Chailly and the piano played by Martha Argerich and Radu Lupu. In late 2008, he worked with Sir.Simon Rattle the Brahms Symphony at Zurich. In July 2006, he participated the PMF Pacific International Music Festival and was praised by Maestro Valery Gergiev. During the Festival, He was invited to play TORU Takemitsu Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic members as a guest principle oboist in the Japanese Sapporo Symphony Orchestra.
Qing has been very busy for giving Masterclasses, personal recitals, chamber music performances and symphony concerts around the world. He played oboe concertos with many famous orchestras. For instance, in 2015 he played Pascouli La Favorita Concerto with the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Zhu Qiyuan. Later, he played Mozart Oboe Concerto with Qingdao Symphony Orchestra,conducted by Avi Ostrowsky. In 2014, he played D-Major concerto with the Muko Symphony Orchestrain in Leipzig, conducted by Aviat Victor. In 2013, he played Lebrun Oboe Concerto with Redlands Symphony Orchestra in California; The Mozart Oboe Concerto with Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and also with the Thai Philharmonic Orchestra in the Thai Philharmonic's New Year's concert in 2012.
Qing is prize winner for many international competitions. In 2013, he won the First prize of the 33rd IDRS International Association Gilet-Fox Oboe competition in the United States.
In 2011, he won the second prize of ADRA International Oboe Competition.
In 2010, he was the semi-finalist in Geneva International Oboe competition in Switzerland.
In July 2009, he won the 3rd prize in the 29th IDRS International Association Gilet-Fox Oboe competition in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
In October 2006, he won the Performance Award in the 8th Annual International Oboe competition in Japan.
In August 2005, he won the Second prize in The Concerto competition in Beijing.
In February 2004, he won the second prize in the Youth Group of Woodwinds and Brasses in Asia Juvenile Music competition in Hong Kong. (The first prize vacancy).
Close
Marìa-José García Zamora
Gillet-Fox International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
María José García Zamora. Born in Albatera (Alicante-Spain) in 1986. She began with bassoon lessons at the age of thirteen. In 2005, she was admitted to study in the bassoon class of Juan Sapiña at the Conservatory of Aragón (Zaragoza), where she obtained her superior music diploma in 2009. That same year she moved to Switzerland to study at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel under the tutelage of renowned bassoonist Sergio Azzolini, thanks to a scholarship awarded by Ibercaja Bank. After her Master of Arts in Music Performance in 2011, she continued studying towards an Advanced Degree in Music, which she obtained at the same conservatory in 2013. Her orchestral experience began with youth orchestras such as the Spanish National Youth Orchestra (JONDE) and, subsequently, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (GMJO).
On a professional level, she has been invited to play in the ranks of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO), Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO), Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB), Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Münchener Kammerorchester, Festival Strings Lucerne, Kammerorchester Basel, Spanish National RTVE, Valencia “Palau de la Musica” Symphonic Orchestra, Valencia “Palau de Res Arts” Orchestra , among others.
During 2010/11 season she was a member of the youth academy of Sinfonieorchester Basel conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. In December 2012, she won the position for Principal Bassoon at the Orchestra of Komische Oper Berlin, in which she has been performing as a member since the 2013/14 season.
Since 2010 founding member of the Azahar Ensemble, a Spanish wind quintet which in 2014 won 2nd prize (first prize deserted) and the audience prize at the 63rd International ARD Competition in Munich.
Carin Miller
Gillet-Fox International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Carin Miller is principal bassoon with the Oregon Symphony, and she previously held principal bassoon positions with the Jacksonville and Shreveport Symphonies. Ms. Miller performs regularly as guest principal bassoon with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Portland Opera and Oregon Ballet Theater. She recently toured as guest principal bassoon with the Galilee Chamber Orchestra performing in Tel Aviv, Toronto, and New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Ms. Miller enjoys collaborating in Seattle with the Seattle Chamber Music Society and Orca Concert series, as well as locally with Chamber Music Northwest, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, Classical up Close, and 45th Parallel Universe.
Under the umbrella of the Oregon Symphony Sounds of Home series, she recently curated and performed in a chamber music program with commissions from local composers and in conjunction with the Audubon Society of Portland to raise awareness of the impact of climate change. Ms. Miller has had the immense pleasure of performing duets with jazz sensation Wycliffe Gordon as part of her residency coaching with the National Youth Orchestra of Carnegie Hall.
A native of Queens, NY, Ms. Miller holds a BM from the Juilliard School, an MM from Rice University, and an Advanced Certificate from the University of Southern California. Her teachers include Whitney Crockett, Frank Morelli, Stephen Maxym, and Benjamin Kamins.
As an educator, she has presented masterclasses for the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory, and coaches for the Portland Youth Philharmonic and Wallowa Lake Woodwind Camp. Ms. Packwood is the founder and executive director for the international virtual symposium Bassoons Without Borders. Ms. Miller had the great privilege of serving for a year as visiting Adjunct Associate Professor of Bassoon at Indiana University in 2021-2022 and has served on the board of the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Ms. Miller is currently Adjunct Professor at Portland State University, Pacific University, Lewis and Clark College, and Reed College, as well as curating a private teaching studio from her home in Portland, Oregon.
Honorary Membership Committee
Nora Cismondi
Nora Cismondi
After receiving first prizes in oboe and chamber music from the Conservatoire national de Paris in the classes of J.L. Capezzali, Jacques Tys and David Walter, Nora Cismondi studied with Maurice Bourgue. Winner of international competitions such as the Prague Spring in 2001, the Toulon Competition in 2002, the ARD in Munich in 2003 and the Sonymusic Foundation Tokyo Competition in 2006, she has performed as a soloist in many European venues. Recognized by her peers, she was named Révélation Classique de l'Adami in 2005 at the MIDEM in Cannes. After 7 seasons with the orchestra of the Opéra national de Paris, Nora Cismondi joined the Orchestre national de France in 2006 as principal oboe. At the same time, she is a regular guest of prestigious orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the National Academy of Saint Cecilia in Rome, as well as internationally renowned ensembles such as the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Holder of the C.A. since 2006, she shares her experience during numerous masterclasses throughout Europe and Asia and will be entrusted with the oboe class of the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris in September 2012. At the beginning of the 2018 academic year, she will be part of the teaching team of the Conservatoire national de Paris as assistant and will be promoted to oboe soloist of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
CloseRavi Shankar Domingues
Leyla Zamora
Leyla Zamora
Leyla Zamora has been a member of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra since 2005. Ms. Zamora studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, Baylor University and DePaul University in Chicago. Before coming to San Diego, Ms. Zamora held for 11 years the position of principal bassoon with the Memphis Symphony. She has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand, Costa Rican National Symphony and Colombian Youth Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Zamora has participated in orchestral and chamber music festivals such as the Britt and Cascade Festivals in Oregon, New Hampshire Music Festival, International Orchestra in Japan, Spoleto Music Festival in Italy, Des Moines Metro Opera and Cassals Festival in Puerto Rico. Ms. Zamora has presented master classes and recitals at the Universities of Idaho, Wichita State and Southern Mississippi, as well as University of Memphis, Washburn University in Kansas and University of the Pacific in Stockton. She has performed solo concerti and recitals in Costa Rica, Colombia, Japan, Czech Republic and the former Soviet Union.
Close2023 Conference Artistic Committee
Monica Ellis
Anne Gilby
Anne Gilby
Anne Gilby enjoys a distinguished career as performer and educator. She studied in Europe with Leon Goossens, Helmut Winschermann and Maurice Bourgue supported by an Australian Council for the Arts Grant and the Gabriel Harrison scholarship awarded at the Aberdeen International Festival of Youth Orchestras. Anne is a frequent concerto soloist including with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and has an extensive solo recital repertoire. She has held the position of Principal Oboist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and other orchestras in Germany and Australia. Academic positions include Head of Woodwind of the Victorian College of the Arts. Anne is a past Chair of the Australian Youth Orchestra Ltd Artistic Committee. She served on the Music Board of the Australia Council and chaired the Artistic Committee of the Victorian Opera. Anne was the founding President of the Australasian Double Reed Society, co-hosting the 2004 IDRS Conference in Melbourne. Her commitment to music pedagogy has seen her teach in such diverse countries as Afghanistan and Taiwan.
Close
Kittima Molee
2023 Conference Host
Kittima strives to pass on to younger generations of what she has learned over the years and extended her musical career beyond performance into academia where Kittima currently teaches as a bassoon instructor at her alma Mater – College of Music, Mahidol University. She also holds the position as associate principal bassoon of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra.
Kittima is regularly invited to perform as a chamber musician, to give masterclasses and to take part in competition juries, nationally an internationally. She was invited to perform at the Singapore Double Reed Day, the 6th Malaysia International Music Arts Festival, to be a faculty at the Rondo Music Fest in Malaysia. Kittima also has been invited to perform as a guest principal bassoon for Bandung Philharmonic Orchestra, Indonesia. As a chamber musician, Kittima also performs regularly in Bangkok with the Sawasdee Woodwind Quintet, which she co-founded. The quintet has curated highly successful recitals in Thailand, Singapore, Macao, China, Malaysia, and recently USA. She is also a co-founding member of Thailand Double Reed Society, which is highly regarded for contributions in developing the double reed network in Thailand.
Kittima was taken under the wing of John Mostad, former principal bassoonist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, in the beginning of her formal training in bassoon at the College of Music, Mahidol University. Eventually, Kittima received both her undergraduate and graduate degree from the College of Music, Mahidol University and graduated with summa cum laude. Kittima's regional performance experience came about in 2005, where she participated in the 12th World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference at Singapore, performing as principal bassoonist with the International Youth Wind Orchestra. She has also named semi-finalist in the TEREM Crossover International Music Competition in St. Petersburg in 2010. Following her academic excellence, Kittima received a full scholarship from ASEA UNINET to further her studies at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, where she performed regularly with the Bläserphilharmonie Mozarteum, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Collegium Musicum Salzburg, and Traunstein Youth Symphony in Germany.
Throughout Kittima’s musical career, she has studied with Christopher Schaub, Yoshinori Honda-Tominaga, Krekkrai Tangnoi, Elizabeth Shoemaker, and John Mostard. She also participated in masterclasses from Yoshi Ishikawa, Keith Sweger, Matthew Wilkie, Richard Remey, Daisaku Sakuma, Economou Alexandros, Szalai Edina, and Massimo Data
Close
Amy Pollard
Amy Pollard
Amy Pollard is the Professor of Bassoon and Associate Director for Performance at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia. She formerly served as Lecturer of Bassoon at Baylor University and has also been on faculty at the University of Dayton and the Cincinnati School for the Creative and Performing Arts. During the summer she has been on the faculty of the Interlochen Arts Center Advanced Bassoon Institute, the UGA Study Abroad program in Alessandria, Italy, the Saarburg Music Festival in Saarburg, Germany, and the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival. She has taught master classes at conservatories and universities throughout the United States and internationally as well as serving as a guest artist for numerous double reed festivals and clinics.
Pollard holds positions as principal bassoon with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and second bassoon with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. She is an active freelance performer with orchestras throughout the country including the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Greenville Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Symphony Orchestra Augusta, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Pollard also serves on the administrative board for the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Symposium as part of the Competition Committee.
Pollard has presented solo recitals at venues across the country and internationally and has performed as a soloist with the University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Wind Symphony as well as with the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Chamber Players. An avid chamber musician, she has performed at venues throughout the country and also in Ireland, Belgium, Argentina, Italy, and Germany with such groups as the Georgia Woodwind Quintet, the Baylor University Woodwind Quintet, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Woodwind Quintet, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Chamber Players. Her bassoon-percussion duo, Col Legno (www.collegnoduo.com) and her bassoon duo, Dueaux, have performed recitals and presented master classes at numerous venues throughout the country.
Pollard’s debut solo album, Ruminations: Bassoon Works of Eugène Bozza, and the Georgia Woodwind Quintet’s CD Chroma were both released by Mark Records and are available on iTunes.
Pollard received her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana State University, studying with William Winstead and William Ludwig.
Close
Christopher Schaub
2023 Conference Host
Christopher Schaub, a native of the USA, joined the staff of the College of Music, Mahidol University (Thailand) in 2007, where he currently serves as instructor of bassoon and Assistant Dean for International Recruiting. Chris is also a founding board member of the Asian Double Reed Association (ADRA) and in August of 2011 hosted the first international conference of the ADRA, held at the College of Music. Chris is currently principal bassoon of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO) and has performed concertos twice with the ensemble. He previously played principal bassoon with the Bandung Philharmonic Orchestra (Indonesia) and has performed with several orchestras while living in the United States. Chris’ principal teachers include Dr. Gene Griswold and Jeff Keesecker. He is honored to be co-host of the IDRS 2023 Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
Close
Commissioning Committee
Ryan Reynolds
reynolds@idrs.orgDr. Ryan Reynolds is the bassoonist of the Akropolis Reed Quintet, and Lecturer of Bassoon at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI. He received his education at the Interlochen Arts Academy (‘08), University of Michigan (BM ‘12, MM ‘14), and Florida State University (DM ‘17) where he studied with Eric Stomberg, Jeffrey Lyman, and Jeff Keesecker. As a performer, Dr. Reynolds has won many awards with Akropolis, and in 2018, his collaboration with legendary clarinetist David Shifrin on the studio recording of a new chamber music version of Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto was released on Delos Records and nominated for an International Classical Music Award. Additionally, Reynolds has performed on occasion with orchestras throughout the United States including the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra. An educator, Dr. Reynolds has served on the summer faculty of the Renova Music Festival, and is a co-founder of the Akropolis Chamber Music Institute in Petoskey, Michigan. He has given masterclasses and lectures in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and at many top American universities including the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University. Reynolds contributes to the International Double Reed Society as the Lead Bassoon Recordings Reviewer for the quarterly journal The Double Reed, and as a member of the IDRS Commissioning Sub-Committee.
Close
Hassan Anderson
Hassan Anderson
American oboist Hassan Anderson is a soloist, chamber musician, conductor, and teacher. Noted for his clarity of tone, range of colors, and energetic stage presence, Mr. Anderson was the oboist of the acclaimed innovative New York-based chamber music ensemble SHUFFLE Concert (Ensemble Mélange), a position he has held from 2011-2018. With the ensemble, Mr. Anderson toured Israel three times, performed on series throughout the US and Canada, including the Duplex, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Rose Studio at Lincoln Center, New York’s Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society Series, Los Angeles’s L'Ermitage Concert Series, Pennsylvania’s Lancaster Performing Arts Center, and Pepperdine University Center for the Arts in California, as well as at such distinguished summer festivals as Cooperstown Music Festival, Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival, Canada’s Chamberfest Ottawa, to name a few. Mr. Anderson’s newest release (New Focus Recordings, March 2020) is a world-premiere recording with the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble of John Alyward’s “Angelus.” A popular collaborator, amongst his numerous guest appearances with distinguished ensembles, are performances with the American Ballet Theater, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and New York Philharmonic. Mr. Anderson is the co-artistic director of ECCE Arts and was recently named (Spring 2021) Assistant Professor of Oboe and Coordinator of Teaching Artistry at the University of South Carolina. To learn more about Mr. Anderson please visit: hassananderson.com
Close
Lorelei Dowling
Lorelei Dowling
Lorelei Dowling, bassoonist and contrabassoonist, is a world-renowned contemporary specialist. Since winning a position in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra aged 24, she has appeared with many esteemed ensembles including Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Mozarteum Orchestra, Orchester-RSO Wien, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Esbjerg Ensemble, Musikfabrik, Lausanne and Munich Chamber Orchestras. In addition to premiering the Jolivet Bassoon Concerto with a major Australian orchestra, she was the first bassoonist to play Sequenza XII by Luciano Berio in Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong and Russia. Since 1994, Lorelei Dowling has been the solo bassoon player of Klangforum Wien, Austria. She is also a member of the all amplified bassoon quartet "The Lindsay Cooper Quartet" which focuses only on contemporary music, improvisations and their own compositions. Lorelei has given lecture-recitals all over the world, most notably at the Manhattan School of Music, Moscow Conservatorium, Singapore University, Venice Conservatoire, Porto School of Music, Portugal, Paris Conservatoire; 10 year celebration for The Bassoonion, Hong Kong, Royal Northern College of Music and for the IDRS in Ithaca, Wisconsin and Birmingham. In 2010 she was the international guest bassoonist at the BDRS convention in England. From 2013 -19, Dowling was the bassoon instrumental lecturer for the Masters in Composition at Katarina Gurska Centre for Music, Madrid. In 2018, Lorelei enroled in the doctoral program (Dr Artium) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, (KUG) Austria. The same year she joined the Faculty of the Lucerne Festival Academy. She was selected to present her doctoral project at the 2019 Association of European Conservatoriums conference in Romania. In 2021 she premiered Georg Friedrich Haas’s: Was mir Beethoven erzählt for contraforte, violin solo (Caroline Widmann) and Chamber Orchestra ( Basel). Her solo recordings include: George Aperghis,Tag ohne Nacht, solo contraforte (Kairos) Olga Neuwirth, Torsion, solo bassoon (Kairos) Liza Lim, Axis Mundi, solo bassoon (Kairos) Billone, Gubaidulina, Staud et al on her solo CD, I was like WOW, (TYXart) Elena Kats-Charmin, Nonchalance, Afterwards, Slicked Back Tango, bassoon and piano (ABC Classic) She is the currently the bassoon teacher for the Performance Practice in Contemporary Music (PPCM), Graz (KUG) and contrabassoon/contraforte teacher at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien (MUK).
Close
Nicolasa Kuster
Nicolasa Kuster
Bassoonist Nicolasa Kuster joined the faculty of University of the Pacific's Conservatory of Music in Stockton, CA, in the fall of 2008. She balances her full-time teaching position with a rich orchestral, chamber, and solo performing life around northern California and beyond. She also launched and continues to lead the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition, a biennial competition for young women bassoonists from the Americas. This competition awards $20,500 in prizes at the exciting three day MQVC Bassoon Symposium open to all. Kuster is Principal Bassoon of the Stockton Symphony and New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestras, Second Bassoon of the Monterey Symphony, and performs on occasion with the San Francisco and San Diego Symphonies. Previous positions include the Wichita Symphony (also serving on the faculty of Wichita State University), the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the Virginia Symphony. She spent six summer seasons performing and recording with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy and can be heard on the Chandos Label playing Principal Bassoon on Gian Carlo Menotti's operas and other works. She has enjoyed teaching and performing at many summer festivals and camps, including Anchorage Music Festival; Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Prague, Czech Republic; Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop in Arcata, CA; the Marrowstone Festival in Bellingham, WA; Bocal Majority and Operation O.B.O.E. as well as Pacific Music Camp in Stockton. Her solo appearances with orchestra include performing Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Bassoon Concerto in the opening Gala performance of the International Double Reed Society in 2013, Peter Schickele's Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra with the Stockton Symphony in 2015, multiple-city tours of Kazakhstan, as well as televised performances in Italy and Panama. She is the winner of the 1995 Chicago Musicians Club of Women's Solo Competition Farwell Award, which she won while a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago studying with the late Bruce Grainger, Assistant Principal Bassoon of the Chicago Symphony. She is a double degree graduate from Oberlin College and Conservatory with a BM in Bassoon Performance and a BA in Religion. She was a student of George Sakakeeny and taught at Oberlin as his sabbatical replacement in fall 2002. Her solo album, Metamorphosis, can be found at NicolasaKuster.com.
CloseEsther Williams
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Midori Samson
Dr. Midori Samson (she/her) teaches bassoon and music history at Oklahoma State University and is a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Other recent activities include collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and Youth Music Culture Guangdong (China), Artists Striving to End Poverty (India/New York), Ubumuntu Arts Festival (Rwanda), Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, LunART Inc. (Madison), and Project Tumugtog (Philippines). She holds degrees from The Juilliard School, University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she studied bassoon and social welfare. Her dissertation discusses how musicians can operationalize social work theory to create a more anti-racist, anti-oppressive classical music landscape. She brings this philosophy to her role as Artistic Director of Trade Winds Ensemble, a group of teaching artists that host community engagement workshops with social impact organizations in Nairobi, Chicago, Detroit, and Oklahoma. www.midorisamson.com
Close
Alex Davis
Alex Davis
Alexander Davis (he/him) is a New York City-based bassoonist who has been known for his ability to play “with poise and élan”- Cleveland Classical. He is a musician whose artistic intentions center on space-making, connection, and community building within classical music. Alexander has played in orchestras such as Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, American Composer Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Erie Philharmonic, CityMusic Cleveland, Tertulia Chamber Music, North Country Chamber Players, Sherman Chamber Music, and Harlem Chamber Players. He has performed in summer festivals such as Tanglewood, Ensemble Evolution, Banff Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Maine Chamber Music Seminar, and the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival. In addition to performing, Alexander is the founder and Artistic Director of Sugar Hill Salon Chamber Music (www.sugarhillsalon.com), administrative manager of the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, and a teaching artist at the Park Avenue Armory.
CloseJeanine Krause
John Steinmetz
John Steinmetz
John Steinmetz teaches bassoon and chamber music at UCLA. Some of his compositions confront current issues like climate change, war, ecological disruption, or social conflict. For several decades he worked as a freelance bassoonist in Los Angeles, playing orchestral music, opera and ballet, chamber music, and scores for film and television. For more about John, please visit www.johnsteinmetz.org.
CloseJacqueline Wilson
Jacqueline Wilson
Bassoonist Dr. Jacqueline Wilson is an active performer, pedagogue, collaborator, and advocate. She currently serves as Assistant Professor of Bassoon and Theory at Washington State University where she performs with the Solstice Faculty Wind Quintet. Since 2019, she has also been on the faculty of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy (Valparaiso, IN), where she teaches studio bassoon, chamber music, and is a member of the Movere Wind Quintet. As an active soloist and chamber musician, she regularly presents recitals, masterclasses, and clinics including engagements at the International Double Reed Society Conference (Tampa, FL, Columbus, GA, Redlands, CA), the College Music Society National Conference (Santa Fe, NM), the Meg Quigley Bassoon Symposium (Los Angeles, CA), the LunART Festival (Madison, WI) and on Wisconsin Public Radio. She is a founding member of Ensemble 337, an innovative bassoon and marimba duo with percussionist Dr. Christopher Wilson. An eager contributor to the double reed community, Dr. Wilson currently serves as a Co-Executive Director of the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Bassoon Symposium, the Sponsor-a-Member Coordinator for the International Double Reed Society, and co-hosts the Double Reed Dish podcast with oboist Dr. Galit Kaunitz.
Close
Dr. Marissa Olegario
Dr. Marissa Olegario
Bassoonist and educator, Dr. Marissa Olegario is Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Arizona and Principal Bassoon of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. She spends her summers in Durango, Colorado as second bassoon of the Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra. Other orchestral engagements include the San Diego Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Augusta Symphony, and GRAMMY nominated ensemble True Concord Voices & Orchestra. As a soloist, she has performed with the Sierra Vista Symphony, Tucson Repertory Orchestra, Arizona Symphonic Winds, and the University of Arizona Symphony Orchestra.
Beyond her orchestral career, Olegario engages in a multitude of creative projects. Her work as a chamber musician in particular devotes significant time to collaborating with living composers and promoting and elevating the experiences of underrepresented artists. Recent projects include recitals with the Arizona Wind Quintet celebrating American female composers and a program of all living Mexican composers which they toured in the Southwest region. Separately, Olegario has premiered two climate and nature-focused chamber works: Lachlan Skipworth’s Pine Chant for reed trio and electronics, and a work by Sarah Gibson for bass clarinet and bassoon premiered at the Tucson Botanical Garden. In 2023,Pine Chant was awarded the Australasian Performing Right Association’s (APRA AMCOS) “Chamber Music Work of the Year.” Olegario remains an active sub with acclaimed The Breaking Winds Bassoon Quartet, performing on tour with the ensemble since 2016. Her chamber performances can be heard on the Naxos, New World Records, and Soundset Recordings labels.
Olegario’s pedagogy incorporates community engagement activities. As part of her curriculum, her students participate in community projects which have included: organizing a concert to benefit the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona; volunteering for Tucson’s River Restoration Project to extract arundo donax, an invasive species that is also the material that makes reeds; and performing at an annual School of Music community outreach event organized and led by Olegario,Musical Murals, taking community members on a tour of 10 murals around downtown Tucson, coupled with music by student chamber ensembles from the University of Arizona. In addition, Olegario hosted the 2022 Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition Symposium.
In 2021, Olegario was nominated for the University of Arizona’s “Five Star Faculty Award." She received her doctorate from SUNY Stony Brook (D.M.A.), and also attended Northwestern University (B.M.) and the Yale School of Music (M.M.), the latter of which awarded her its Alumni Prize.
Close