• Vice President

• Oboe
• English Horn
• Historical Instruments (Oboe Family)

When the creation of regional chapters was announced, I was incredibly excited. As someone living outside the "Midwest Double Reed Society," I was always envious of the community and bond they had amongst their membership. I would even day dream about creating a "Great Lakes Double Reed Society" for all states with Great Lakes coastline. Luckily, the IDRS was a few steps ahead of me, and I'm so pleased to see the creation of regional chapters for all.

I'm nominating myself for Vice President of the Midnorth Regional Chapter, because I'm passionate about contibuting to the IDRS through service and leadership in an impactful way. I am especially interested to help plan any regional meetings, events, or conferences and believe that my home campus of The Ohio State University would be a wonderful location for any such possibilities. In the fall of '22, Ohio State opened the doors of our brand-new Timashev Family Music Building, which is a beautiful and accomodating facilities.

Dr. Abby Yeakle Held serves as the oboe professor at The Ohio State University, where she was appointed in 2021. Prior to this, Dr. Held served as Adjunct Professor of Oboe at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Dr. Held is also recognized for her unique research. As a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Held studied the Viennese oboe, its history, traditions, current state, and cross-application to the French conservatory oboist. She is the first to publish on the topic in English, making her one of the foremost scholars on the Viennese oboe outside of the instrument’s community.

As a performer, Held served as Associate Principal Oboe of the West Texas Symphony from 2017-2023 and has appeared with orchestras across the U.S.A. including the Columbus Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony and the Castleton Festival. Held has performed internationally in Austria and Belgium, including a recital at the United States Embassy in Vienna, Austria.

As a passionate oboe pedagogue, Dr. Held gives frequent master classes at middle and high schools. She has been an appointed reviewer for Texas’ UIL Prescribed Music List (PML) for Mixed Woodwind Trio, adding over 40 works to the list. Additionally, she is one of the co-creators of the PML’s Double Reed chamber music category. Many of these works included the list's first works by composers who are women and/or BIPOC, which added more diverse options for students. Dr. Held has been invited to teach the All-State oboe masterclasses at the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) conference and convention. She has taught for Bocal Majority and Operation O.B.O.E. Camps as a premier and ADRIT instructor since 2017.