A recital of two new works by female composers that blur and expand genres for the bassoon. Both are newly commissioned pieces that will be IDRS premieres.

1. “Tertiary Colors” (2026) is by Susanna Hancock, an Asian-American composer whose music explores color, process, and acoustic phenomena. Her music draws from a wide array of influences including minimalism, spectralism, math rock, and electronic mediums. “Tertiary Colors” is an exploration of the composer’s affinity for math rock, reimagined via bassoon (Hancock’s primary instrument) and piano. The title pays tribute to Japanese math rock band JYOCHO’s concept of “three primary colors” in their musical aesthetic, with “tertiary” alluding to a hybridity of these influences in classical settings.
2. “Peripheries: A Triptych for Amplified Bassoon with FX Pedal and Audio Track“ (2025) is by Jennifer E. Rose, a versatile American composer who masterfully merges electronic sound design with acoustic instrumental elements in ways that are both daring and captivating. “Peripheries”, inspired by traditional techno sounds and patterns, attempts to reinvent the bassoon (Rose’s primary instrument) as a lead voice in electronic music. The amplified bassoon, shaped by effects pedals, interacts with creative sound design, undulating techno sounds, and driving house rhythms.

Common Threads: The woodwind faculty of Middle Tennessee State University’s School of Music present two new compositions and a new arrangement featuring oboe d’amore with music inspired by visual and fiber arts and nature. Althea Talbot-Howard’s Three-Ply Yarn (2024) combines flute, oboe d’amore, and bass clarinet (or bassoon) in a programmatic work concerning the fiber arts and human rights. Paul Osterfield’s The Persistence of Memory (2024) for oboe d’amore and piano draws inspiration from Salvador Dali’s eponymous painting. Deanna Rae Hahn’s new arrangement of Camille Saint-Saëns’s classic Tarantella for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon closes the program.

This program traces an arc of twentieth-century modernism through three groundbreaking American women composers whose works for solo oboe reveal the instrument’s expressive and technical possibilities in strikingly different ways.

Ruth Crawford-Seeger’s Diaphonic Suite No. 1 (1930) stands as one of the earliest American atonal works for solo instrument. Written at the height of her involvement with the ultramodernist circle in New York, the suite explores angular lines, dissonant intervals, and rhythmic independence, demanding clarity and precision from the performer.

Joan Tower’s Composition for Oboe (1965) comes from her earlier style period which contains a more rhythmically complex and pointillistic serialized music. She has written for the oboe as a soloist throughout her career, but this is one of her first times experimenting with what soundscapes the oboe can create.

Faye-Ellen Silverman’s Oboe-sthenics (1983) pushes the instrument into virtuosic territory with athletic gestures, wide leaps, and extended techniques. The title itself suggests both strength and stamina, qualities demanded of the performer. Silverman’s work exemplifies late twentieth-century approaches to solo writing—dynamic, physical, and unapologetically bold.

Together, these works present an evolving portrait of American modernism, told through the singular, compelling voice of the oboe.

Since meeting in 2000, PJ and Rachelle (née Hulme) Woolston have fastidiously hunted music for bassoon and soprano. Unaccompanied scores are particularly attractive given the greater degree of performance flexibility. Unsurprisingly, the repertoire for bassoon and voice is sparse! Consequently they have showcased lesser known gems by important composers, and commissioned works by talented new composers. This program will feature an obscure classic by Francisco Mignone (of 16 Waltzes for Bassoon Solo fame) and three songs written in the last two years by Christian Fortner, including a world debut at the 2026 IDRS conference.

Bassoonists from all three United States service academy bands: the U.S. Air Force Academy Band, the West Point Band, and the United States Naval Academy Band, present a short recital and discussion highlighting the unique role of double-reed musicians in military service. The first half of the performance will feature bassoon quartet repertoire, showcasing the instrument’s versatility through Pierre-Max Dubois’s Scherzo for Four Bassoons, Francisco Mignone’s vibrant Maxixando from Four Brazilian Pieces, and the lyrical Andante Cantabile from Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1.

Following the performance, the ensemble will invite the audience into an open Q&A about life and career pathways within the service academy bands. Topics may include the missions of our respective organizations, audition processes, training, and the experience of serving as active-duty musicians. This session aims to connect the double-reed community with the broader world of professional military music and public service.

This recital features music solely by composers under the trans umbrella written in the last ten years. I will showcase works by established and and emerging trans composers with works for bassoon alone, two bassoons, and bassoon and piano. This recital also acts as a showcase of my doctoral research, which is about highlighting the artistic paths and works featuring the bassoon by transgender composers in contemporary classical music.

This recital offers the rare opportunity to hear the unique voices and blending qualities of four members of the oboe family: oboe, oboe d’amore, English horn, and heckelphone. The program showcases Australian composer Carolyn Morris, who creates beautiful and uplifting works for musicians of all levels, especially for woodwinds. “I often aspire to communicate the inherent human connection to nature in my music. The experience of being in nature can unite us and remind us that we’re all part of something much bigger than our individual lives”, she writes.

After a brief introduction to the composer and her works, each of the four instruments will be featured performing a short, characteristic solo, followed by ensembles that combine their rich sounds. The musicians represent varied backgrounds and continents (Australia, Europe, and North America) and perform on instruments made by five different makers, yet they unite in musical expression.

Professors Courtney Miller (oboe) and Billie Feather (guitar) embrace the opportunity as educators and performers to champion innovation, inclusion, and artistic risk-taking. Through the Keys & Bridges Duo, they explore the intersection of classical and folk traditions. Inclusion in the IDRS program will support the creation of new works, elevate marginalized voices, and foster meaningful dialogue around diversity, collaboration, and the evolving landscape of music.

This program features original music by Billie Feather, which incorporates storytelling and Americana influences, Alejandro Rutty which fuses traditional Argentinian elements into a classical framework, and Mark Engebretson’s Radiance, which incorporates live digital media and audience interaction via smartphones. This curated selection integrates folk traditions, classical forms, and electronic media to encourage cross-genre collaboration and broaden artistic possibilities.

Puerto Rican Danzas for Double Reeds explores the rhythmic vitality and lyricism of contemporary works by Puerto Rican composer and oboist Jesús Ramos. Rooted in the island’s danza tradition, these contemporary works reflect Puerto Rican identity through the interplay of melody, rhythm, and conversation among double reeds. Since 2022, Jesús and I have collaborated to share his music’s distinctive voice; this program will start in duet form and expand on our partnership into a chamber setting where we will be joined by some of our talent colleagues to engage in musical conversation. The recital highlights how friendship, artistry, and cultural heritage intersect within the sound world of the danza, offering audiences a dynamic perspective with fun nuances on Puerto Rico’s musical traditions and their contemporary stamp on classical music.

Pure Winds will be uplifting voices of Native Americans both musically and literally. First, Phillip Bimstein uses audio from interviews with three generations of the Kaibab Piaute tribe as they react to the dark cloud created by a toxic waste incinerator. Using a technique he calls ‘voice organics,’ the composer created mesa winds, industrial ratchets, a snake pit, birdcalls, and other sounds from the spoken words to form “Dark Winds Rising.” This work for quintet and fixed media is not only accessible, but thought-provoking. Second, two movements from “Ritmo Indio: A Study in American Indian Rhythms” by Cherokee-Quapaw composer, Louis W. Ballard conclude the program. Both “The Source” and “The Dance” are lively musical vignettes, unique in color and character. With an exceptionally wide tonal palette, from chant-like repetitions of recorded speech to the reedy nature of the wind quintet, this program brings light to underrepresented composers and voices in modern literature.

The students of Harry Sargous present a program honoring this prestigious artist and pedagogue. Harry Sargous was former Principal Oboist of the Toronto Symphony (1971-1982), and joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1982, Harry was an internationally acclaimed musician whose career spanned continents and decades. A gifted oboist, he served as a guest artist with numerous orchestras across the United States, Canada, and Europe. His talents graced the airwaves as a featured soloist on CBC Radio and Television, BBC London, WDR Köln, Swedish Riksradio, and as a recitalist in North and South America, Eastern and Western Europe, and Japan. Harry made his critically acclaimed debut at Carnegie Hall in 1975 and spent several summers performing at the prestigious Marlboro Music Festival. The following pieces on this recital are works that he commissioned, recorded and performed. All performers on this recital are former students of Harry Sargous residing from Canada to the United States.

In this recital, titled “Dances of the Silk Road,” I will perform three works by Uzbek composers Sonya Abramova and Akrom Khoshimov, each inspired by the traditional dance culture of the region. Two works share the title “Raqs” (dance in Uzbek) but are written by different composers, offering contrasting interpretations of the same concept. The third work, also by Abramova, “Tajik Dance (Tojikcha Raqs),” reflects the close relationship between Uzbek and Tajik dance traditions. These pieces combine lyrical melodies with modal pitch patterns, ornamented phrasing, and rhythmic figures that suggest movement, storytelling, and expressive gestures characteristic of Silk Road dance.

Although written in a contemporary classical style, the music remains rooted in folk color, traditional aesthetics, and the emotional landscape of Uzbek musical identity. This recital introduces audiences to a rarely heard repertoire, highlighting the elegance, rhythmic vitality, and poetic character of Uzbek music through the voice of the oboe.

“Cantares” offers an expanded view of Brazilian art music by highlighting its lyricism, rhythmic complexity, and distinct regional aesthetics through the combined timbres of bassoon and saxophone. The program features new arrangements of Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 and Pixinguinha’s Proezas de Solon, along with the world premiere of Serenata e Maracatu by Gilson Santos, commissioned by and dedicated to Split Reed Duo. This work reflects musical practices from Northeastern Brazil, contrasting the cantabile character of the Serenata with the energetic pulse of the Maracatu de Baque Virado.

The inclusion of Brazilian composers in the contemporary bassoon repertoire responds to ongoing discussions in music performance research regarding diversification, culturally situated knowledge, and repertoire equity. Brazilian musical traditions introduce articulation patterns, phrasing approaches, and metric frameworks that remain underrepresented in standard double reed literature. Presenting this program at the IDRS conference offers an opportunity to broaden stylistic awareness and increase the visibility of Brazilian composers within the international double reed community.

This recital aims to inform and shortly represent the first traces of oboe repertoire’s heritage in Albania. The most influential oboist was Viktor Shiroka, an Albanian oboist graduated in Prague. He proudly led the oboe section in the first albanian professional orchestras and founded the oboe class of the former Higher Institute of Arts, nowadays University of Arts, Albania.

Minga’s “Theme and variations” is the first work ever composed for solo oboe and orchestra in Albania’s history of music. It was finished in 1974 and premiered by Viktor Shiroka and Radio Television Orchestra in 1976 for the so called “Concerts of May”, an annual festival during communist regime. Distinguished by a unique lyricism where the creative individuality is intertwined with traditional elements. It has been played in different countries by different oboists, recently by Fabien Thouand in Tirana.

Feim Ibrahimi is an important name in Albanian’s music history. His Concerto (1981) was the only concerto composed for oboe until recently. This work was a turning point in different compositional aspects transforming the folk elements within a modern context, clashing with conservatorism. After the premiere in 1982 by Shiroka and the RTSh Orchestra, it has been partly banned by the regime.

Kotte’s Duet is a manuscript recently discovered that dates back in 1956. It was arranged over a folk theme, typical for the time. This is the earliest written trace for oboe that I have been able to find so far.