Elected Directors –– IDRS Staff –– Volunteers –– Competition Committee –– 2025 Competition Advisory Committees –– 2026 Competition Advisory Committees –– Honorary Membership Committee –– 2025 Conference Artistic Committee –– Commissioning Committee –– Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee –– Past Officers
Elected Directors
Jacqueline Wilson (She/Her)
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 at Washington State University where she performs with the Solstice Faculty 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, the International Alliance for Women in Music Conference, the Meg Quigley Bassoon Symposium, the Getty Center Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. An eager contributor to the double reed community, Dr. Wilson currently serves as President of the International Double Reed Society.
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 Takerei Komene, Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, and Phil Brownlee, the results of which can be heard on her sophomore album, Works for the Bassoon by Māori Composers (WSU Recordings). In 2022, she received an Artist Trust Fellowship to fund the commissioning of Connor Chee’s Concerto for Bassoon and Strings which she premiered in June 2024 with the Ravenna String Orchestra (Seattle). 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.
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Sarah Roper (She/Her)
Immediate Past 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 forms part of the oboe department at the “Escuela Superior de Música de Alto Rendimiento (ESMAR)” and has collaborated as oboe professor of “Fundación MpMusic” and the Master’s degree in Orchestral Studies at the “Academia de Estudios Orquestales at the Barenboim-Said Foundation” in Seville. She is regularly invited to perform as a soloist, chamber musician, to give masterclasses and to take part in competition juries, nationally and internationally.
She is a founding member of "Cuarteto Emispherio" with whom she released the CD “Quartets for Oboe and Strings” in 2015 (including the world premiere recording of “Horus” by Ferrer Ferran) and the world premiere digital track of “Cuarteto con Oboe” by Jesús Torres in 2019 with Oboe Classics. In 2023 Cuarteto Emispherio world premiered and recorded “Interconexiones: New Quartets for Oboe and Strings”, a project which involves the commissioning, premieres, recording and collaborating performances of five brand new quartets for oboe and strings. Sarah also recorded and released "Fantasy for Oboe” by Malcolm Arnold in 2017 and “Silentium Amoris” for oboe and piano by Jesús Torres with Ignacio Torner in 2020 with Oboe Classics.
Sarah is Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and is a Howarth of London LXV oboe artist. She is a founding board member of ADCS (Seville Double Reed Society), was President of AFOES (Spanish Double Reed Society) 2018 - 2022 and formed part of the hosting team for IDRS 2018 in Granada.
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Leigh Muñoz (She/Her)
Vice President
munoz@idrs.orgLeigh Muñoz is a dynamic pedagogue, entrepreneur, and musician, currently serving as Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory and Bassoon Intensive faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp. She has previously taught at Middle Tennessee State University, University of Missouri, Washburn University, and Missouri State University. A first-call substitute bassoonist and contrabassoonist with the Kansas City Symphony, Lyric Opera, and Kansas City Ballet, Leigh has also performed with the Jackson Symphony, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Cedar Rapids Symphony, and Springfield Symphony. Leigh's leadership extends to the double reed community, as Co-Executive Director of the Meg Quigley Bassoon Symposium and Competition. Renowned for her expertise, Leigh has presented at conferences like the International Double Reed Society and Meg Quigley Symposium on reed making, bassoon, contrabassoon and entrepreneurship. She holds a doctorate from the University of Kansas and studied at Oberlin Conservatory, Ohio University, and the New England Conservatory.
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Melissa Bosma (She/Her)
Secretary
secretary@idrs.orgMelissa Bosma is the Adjunct Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Texas at Arlington. She also currently serves as the Secretary of the International Double Reed Society. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Bosma served as Lecturer of Oboe at Oklahoma State University, where she also served as Director of the OSU Summer Music Camp. She also served as Adjunct Instructor of Oboe at Heidelberg University, where she performed with the faculty woodwind quintet, regularly performed at the New Music Festival, and commissioned new solo works for oboe and piano.
Ms. Bosma has taught extensively in Texas, Michigan, and Oklahoma through her studio and master classes at many local middle and high schools. She currently maintains a private studio in Carroll ISD, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, and Northwest ISD. Passionate about sharing oboe pedagogy with other educators, Ms. Bosma has given presentations at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention and the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference. Ms. Bosma is an active orchestral musician who has performed with groups such as the Fort Worth Opera, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Michigan Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, and Oklahoma City Philharmonic. Also an accomplished chamber musician, Ms. Bosma attended the Sarasota Music Festival and was a Fellow at Music Academy of the West where she was a featured soloist under the baton of Grammy-nominated conductor Nicholas McGegan.
Melissa Bosma graduated with Master of Music degrees in both Oboe Performance and Chamber Music from the University of Michigan. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree in Oboe Performance from Southern Methodist University. Her primary teachers include Erin Hannigan and Nancy Ambrose King.
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Andrew W. Parker
Treasurer
treasurer@idrs.orgOboist, educator, and arts administrator, Dr. Andrew W. Parker is the newly appointed Associate Professor of Oboe at the Louisiana State University School of Music. He has performed throughout the United States and internationally at some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kimmel Center, The Long Center, Texas Performing Arts, The Peace Center, Seoul Performing Arts Center, Symphony Space NYC, and Westchester Performing Arts Center, along with many others. Dr. Parker previously held teaching positions as the Assistant Professor of Oboe, Graduate Coordinator, and Summer Music Camp Director at Oklahoma State University, Lecturer of Oboe and Music Technology at Brevard College (NC), and was the Woodwind/Brass coach for the Greenville County Youth Orchestra. He is a sought-after educator and has been invited to give master classes, reed-making seminars, career development workshops, and recitals at the Arizona State University, University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory of Music, Hartt School of Music, SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music, North Carolina School of the Arts, University of Arkansas, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Bowling Green State University, Central Washington University, Arkansas State University, Middle Tennessee State University, and the Usdan Center for Performing and Visual Arts, among other colleges and high schools around the United States. As an avid orchestral and chamber musician, Dr. Parker has held positions with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, Spartanburg Philharmonic, Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, and the Brevard Philharmonic. He has performed with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Mozart Orchestra of New York, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Asheville Symphony Orchestra, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Round Rock Symphony Orchestra, Temple Symphony, Atlantic Music Festival Orchestra, Symphony Space All-Star Orchestra, and Le Train Blue New Music Ensemble, along with performances in Seoul, Korea with Symphony S.O.N.G (Symphony Orchestra for a New Generation). In 2020, Dr. Parker joined the Maryland Chamber Winds (now the Newfound Chamber Winds) as oboist and Director of Artistic Operations where he has assisted in the planning and creation of their summer wind conducting summit and competition, band director workshop, and chamber music fellowship program. Additionally, he has been a guest artist performer and chamber music instructor at the Composers Conference and Chamber Music Festival. Dr. Parker has also made solo appearances performing Aaron Copland's Quiet City with New York City-based chamber orchestra Ensemble Du Monde, W.A. Mozart’s Oboe Concerto with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York, and numerous performances with the Oklahoma State University Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra including Oscar Navarro’s Legacy Concerto, Joseph Haydn’s Oboe Concerto, Gustav Holst’s Fugal Concerto, and the United States premiere of Martinez Gallego’s Concerto for Oboe and Wind Band. Along with his teaching and performing engagements, Dr. Parker has worked extensively in Arts Administration focusing his efforts on arts education. Most recently, he was the Artistic Administrator for the Brevard Music Center, Managing Director of the Yale Philharmonia/New Music New Haven Ensemble, and Orchestra Manager for the Atlantic Music Festival in Waterville, Maine. Dr. Parker received his Bachelor of Music degree from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music, Master of Music from the Yale University School of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Texas at Austin. He has attended numerous summer festivals including the Texas Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Brevard Music Center Festival and Institute, Atlantic Music Festival, and the Roundtop International Music Festival. His major teachers have been Rebecca Henderson, Stephen Taylor, Humbert Lucarelli, Johnathan Blumenfeld, and Valerie Sulzinski. He has concurrently participated in master classes with Robert Botti, Richard Woodhams, Louis Rosenblat, Robert Atherholt, Ann Leek, Eric Ohlsson, Mary Ashley Barrett, Adam Dinitz, and Jason Lichtenwalter.
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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.
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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.
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Ravi Shankar Viana Domingues (He/Him)
At large – Associate Organizations
domingues@idrs.orgRavi Shankar is an oboist, researcher, and professor who has built his career integrating musical performance and academic research. He earned his degree in Music from the University of Brasília and pursued further studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Rostock, Germany. Upon returning to Brazil, he served as co-principal oboist of the Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra and completed his master's and doctoral studies at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, focusing on the structured development of musical performance and the analysis of acoustic and psychoacoustic elements related to oboe timbre.
Since 2016, he has been an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), where he promotes a holistic approach to music education, leading more than 90 outreach initiatives dedicated to musicians’ health and well-being.
With an international career, Ravi has performed with various orchestras in Brazil, Germany, Mexico, and Canada. He has collaborated as a visiting professor at McGill University and is an active researcher with the Observatoire interdisciplinaire de création et de recherche en musique (OICRM) and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT).
A founding member of the Brazilian Network for Artist Health, which aims to foster sustainable and healthy artistic careers, Ravi also established the Brazilian Double Reed Association, playing a key role in organizing four international conferences that bridged scientific research and performance.
His work reflects a strong commitment to innovation in music education, the training of musicians, and the exploration of new methodologies for studying timbre and instrumental performance.
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Cynthia Hanson (She/Her)
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.
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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).
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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.
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Dana Brink (She/Her)
Advertising Coordinator
brink@idrs.orgBassoonist Dana Brink enjoys a rich musical life in West Virginia, where she is an Adjunct Instructor of Music Theory and Woodwind Pedagogy at West Virginia University. Passionate about chamber music, she is a co-founder of the Bridge Bassoon Duo, specializing in contemporary classical music for two bassoons, especially by living composers. She regularly performs with orchestras throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Outside of performing and teaching, Dana also works as the Advertising Coordinator for the International Double Reed Society. She earned a master’s degree in bassoon performance from the Yale School of Music as a student of Frank Morelli and dual bachelor’s degrees in bassoon performance and political science from the Eastman School of Music/University of Rochester, where she studied with George Sakakeeny and John Hunt. Read more about Dana’s latest projects at www.brinkbassoon.com.
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Geoffrey Burgess
Oboe Editor
burgess@idrs.orgGeoffrey Burgess is known internationally as a performer of historical oboes. For twenty years a member of the Paris-based opera company Les Arts Florissants, Geoffrey has also given concerts with leading early music groups in throughout Europe, Australasia and the US. Geoffrey’s experience ranges from late 17th-century French repertoire to premières of new works composed for “Duo d’amore” with harpsichordist Elaine Funaro. Beginning studies in Sydney, he specialized in baroque music in The Hague, followed by a doctoral degree in musicology at Cornell University. Dr Burgess has taught on the faculties of Stony Brook, Duke and Columbia Universities and currently teaches at the Eastman School of Music. His book, The Oboe (Yale University Press) written in collaboration with the late Bruce Haynes, was voted an outstanding achievement by the American Music Instrument Society. Geoffrey continues to be sought after as a refined interpreter of baroque music, and has served as principal oboe with the Washington Bach Consort, and collaborated with leading artists such as Elizabeth Futral, Julianne Baird. He has recorded music by members of the Bach family with a sequel comprising concertos and chamber music.
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Amy Christensen (She/Her)
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.
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Ryan Romine (He/Him)
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.
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Frank Swann (He/Him)
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.
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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.
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Conor Bell (He/Him)
Copy Editor Volunteer
copyeditor1@idrs.orgDr. Conor Bell enjoys a varied career as an educator, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Bassoon at West Texas A&M University. Bell is a passionate chamber musician, currently performing with the Elicio Winds and the Æther reed quintet. Recent chamber performances include conferences for the College Music Society, the International Double Reed Society, the National Flute Association, and community outreach concerts at various venues throughout the South.
Conor is also an active orchestral musician, having served as Principal Bassoon of the Owensboro Symphony for eight seasons, in addition to frequent appearances as a substitute bassoonist with ensembles including the Nashville and Illinois Symphonies. He has recently been appointed Principal Bassoon of the Amarillo Symphony.
As a performer, Conor is particularly interested in new music, championing the works of living composers and pursuing opportunities to commission new works, especially as a means to promote pieces by artists from under-represented backgrounds. He has more than two dozen premieres to his name, many of which came about by commission or consortium. Conor and his wife—oboist Kathleen Carter Bell—were recently awarded one of three commissioning grants by the International Double Reed Society to commission a new trio for double reeds and piano by Afro-British composer Althea Talbot-Howard which was premiered at IDRS 2022.
Conor holds doctoral and master’s degrees from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, with minors in music theory and arts administration. He is fortunate to have studied with many wonderful teachers, including William Ludwig, Kathleen McLean, Tina Carpenter, and Christopher Millard.
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Galit Kaunitz (She/Her)
Oboe Fingerings Coordinator
fingerings@idrs.orgOboist Galit Kaunitz is the Assistant Professor of Oboe at Colorado State University. She is an active orchestral musician, performs solo and chamber music recitals, 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 is dedicated to expanding the canon to include works by underrepresented and displaced composers, and enthusiastically collaborates with composers to commission new works. She, Jacqueline Wilson, and pianist Fabio Menchetti recorded the album All Are Welcome in 2022, which features new commissions for oboe and bassoon by Connor Chee, brin solomon, Mason Bynes, and Kate Pukinskis. Galit is also uncovering the legacy of composer Elizabeth Gyring through performing and recording her works.
Galit is a dedicated teacher who loves educating and empowering students so they can be successful in all of their future endeavors. She is grateful to have studied under Eric Ohlsson, Rebecca Henderson, Humbert Lucarelli, and Marilyn Krentzman. Galit is a Marigaux artist and plays on a Marigaux 901.
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Charles Klein
Theses and Dissertations Coordinator
dissertations@idrs.orgCharles Klein is a versatile artist excelling in music and fine art photography. He holds a PhD in classical oboe performance from the University of Adelaide and a degree in photography from ENSAV La Cambre.
As an oboist, Charles has collaborated with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and co-founded the Windsong Quintet. His talents extend to the english horn and bass oboe; He enjoys a strong reputation for innovative interpretations and a passion for teaching.
Charles's photography has been exhibited at prestigious venues like the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and the Ballarat International Foto Biennale, demonstrating his skill in visual storytelling.
As an educator and researcher, he contributes to music education, sharing his expertise internationally and working with various artistic organizations.
Charles lives and works in Brussels, Belgium.
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Courtney Miller (She/Her)
IDRS Archivist
archivist@idrs.orgDr. Courtney Miller is the oboe professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has previously served on faculty at the University of Iowa in Iowa, Boston College in Massachusetts, and Ashland University in Ohio.
A highly regarded performer and pedagogue, Dr. Miller tours as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. Her 2023 tour in Thailand promoted her newest album collaboration, “Hans Gál: Works for Viola, Piano, Violin & Oboe,” released in 2022. She has performed in many orchestras in the United States, such as the Chicago Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, and Quad Cities Symphony. She currently performs with the North Carolina Opera.
In addition to collaborations within the field of music, Dr. Miller has a flair for interdisciplinary work. She has collaborated with hip-hop dancer Ernest “EKnock” Phillips, belly dancer Janelle Issis, and most recently, choreographer/dancer Kristin Marrs.
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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.
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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.
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Ryan Reynolds (He/Him
reynolds@idrs.orgDr. Ryan Reynolds is the bassoonist of the Grammy-winning ensemble Akropolis Reed Quintet. He has won prizes at six national chamber music competitions, including the Gold Medal at the 2014 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He tours internationally as a member of Akropolis and has released six studio albums with the ensemble. The latest of these albums, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?, was released in April 2024 on Bright Shiny Things, debuted at #2 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart, and won a 2025 Grammy Award. 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. Dr. Reynolds has performed with orchestras throughout the United States including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. An educator, Reynolds has served on the summer faculties of the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, Renova Music Festival, and Akropolis Chamber Music Institute. He has given masterclasses and lectures in Germany, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, and at many top American universities, including Yale University, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University. Reynolds is also an in-demand adjudicator and has served as a judge or panelist for projects and organizations including the International Double Reed Society, the Barlow Endowment, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Calefax International Composers Competition, NOLA Chamber Music Competition, and many collegiate concerto competitions. Dr. Reynolds contributes to the International Double Reed Society as the Lead Bassoon Recordings Reviewer for the quarterly journal The Double Reed, and formerly served as Chair of the IDRS Commissioning Committee. Reynolds is also an arranger and composer, and his works are performed by students and professionals around the world. A native of Michigan, Dr. Reynolds received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Michigan, and received his Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University. His primary teachers include Eric Stomberg, Jeffrey Lyman, and Jeff Keesecker.
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Max Tiefer
Copy Editor Volunteer
copyeditor2@idrs.orgMax Tiefer is a New York City-based multihyphenate specializing in the entertainment industry. Originally from Washington, D.C., he hails from a long family heritage of musicians and grew up listening to the Symphony of the Potomac, which inspired him to join the Double Reed. Max holds his undergraduate degree in Film and Television Production from New York University, where he headed the student newspaper’s copy editing department and studied the subtle influences of modern oboe culture on the fluctuations of the housing market. He has since written for Audible, Washington Square News, Honeysuckle Magazine, and the Renew Democracy Initiative.
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Brenda Willer Buys
Bassoon Fingerings Coordinator
Bassoonist and multi-instrumentalist Dr. Brenda Willer Buys is a member of the chamber ensemble LuftBassoons and the Sierra Vista Symphony Orchestra. As an educator, she teaches private woodwind instrument lessons to students of all ages and general music at an elementary school. Dr. Buys received her DMA in Bassoon Performance at the University of Arizona in 2017. She also holds a master's degree in woodwinds from Florida State University and a bachelor's in clarinet and bassoon from the University of Arizona. She has played with orchestras throughout Southern Arizona, served as second bassoon of Arizona Pro Arte, and had the pleasure of playing with LuftBassoons in the 2021 IDRS Virtual Symposium and at the 2024 IDRS Convention in Flagstaff, AZ.
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Esther Williams
Tips and Scrapes Coordinator
tipsandscrapescoordinator@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/
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Meghan Woodard (She/Her)
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 performs with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, and the Reading Symphony Orchestra as a guest ensemble player. Meghan is also principal oboist of the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra as well as 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’s interest in analyzing oboe recordings as historical documents began while researching her dissertation, “On the Record: Interpreting Recorded Orchestral Excerpts for the Oboe, 1910 – 2016,” a study of performance trends documented in orchestral recordings.
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Aaron Hill
2026 Norma Hooks Young Artist Competition for Oboe, Chair
nhyacoboe@idrs.orgDr. Aaron Hill (he/him) serves as Associate Professor of Oboe and Chair of the Faculty Senate at the University of Nevada, Reno. Prior to moving to Reno, he held appointments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Virginia and James Madison University. He appears frequently on oboe, English horn, and saxophone with the Reno Philharmonic and Reno Chamber Orchestra and he has held positions as principal oboe with the Charlottesville Symphony, Wintergreen Music Festival Orchestra, and Flint Symphony, and English horn with the Roanoke Symphony. His academic affiliations have included extensive chamber music involvement with the Wingra Wind Quintet and Albemarle Ensemble. Hill enjoys a performing career with constant stylistic variety. Hill regularly premieres works by living composers in partnership with reNEW Music and has performed as a guest with the International Contemporary Ensemble. He travels around North America as an active recitalist and masterclass clinician and has been a featured speaker at the TEDxSkidRow and Tom Tom Founders Festival conferences, along with a featured guest appearance on the Double Reed Dish and Detours in Music podcasts. He has performed on Baroque Oboe as a member of the Madison Bach Musicians. As a soloist, he was awarded the Grand Prize in the Mu Phi Epsilon Society for Musical Arts Competition, the Leche Trust Prize at the Barbirolli International Oboe Competition and won the Yamaha Young Performing Artists National Competition. He also performs frequently as an artist in residence with Street Symphony, collaborating with musicians in Los Angeles experiencing homelessness and incarceration. Always active as an orchestral musician, Hill has performed as Principal Oboe with the Ann Arbor Symphony, Flint Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Richmond Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic and Saginaw Bay Symphony, and has also appeared with the Elgin, Hartford, Rockford, San Diego and Virginia symphonies. He played Principal Oboe on William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and Experience with Leonard Slatkin, a recording for Naxos that won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Album. Hill earned his bachelor of music degree with highest honors from the University of Michigan and holds a master of music degree and an artist diploma from the Yale School of Music, where he received the Thomas Nyfenger Memorial Prize for Outstanding Woodwind Performance. He completed his doctor of musical arts degree in performance, pedagogy and literature at James Madison University. He also holds additional pedagogical certifications from the Gordon Institute of Music Learning and Marianne Ploger's Institute for Musical Perception. He has participated in several music festivals, including Classical Tahoe, Tahoe Chamber Music Series, Music in the Mountains, Music Academy of the West, Schleswig-Holstein Orchesterakademie, Chamber Music Unbound, Banff Centre, New York String Orchestra Seminar, Charlottesville Opera, Henry Mancini Institute, Sarasota Music Festival, Hot Springs Music Festival and Interlochen Arts Camp. His oboe teachers include Nancy Ambrose King, Richard Killmer, Stephen Taylor and David Weiss. Hill plays a maple Fox Sayen 880 oboe, made in South Whitley, Indiana.
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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
2025 Competition Advisory Committees
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).
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.
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Toby Chan
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Hong Kong bassoonist Toby Chan was appointed Co-Principal Bassoon of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 2016. As an active orchestral musician, he has performed with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. In the summers of 2015 and 2016 he was an orchestra fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. He was also a member of the Asian Youth Orchestra in 2010 and 2011.
In 2014 Chan was invited to perform with The Hong Kong Obsession at the International Double Reed Conference in New York. From 2011 to 2014, he held the Vice-Chairman position of The Bassoonion, and gave numerous ensemble concerts aimed at promoting the bassoon to the public. Winner of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts’ Concerto Trial 2011, he performed the Vanhal's Concerto for Two Bassoons with HKAPA's Academy Symphony Orchestra. He was chosen as one of the "2012 Young Music Makers" by RTHK and recorded an album, and radio and television programmes with RTHK.
After receiving the Bachelor of Music degree from the HKAPA, Chan pursued his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School in New York, under Judith LeClair, the Principal Bassoon of the New York Philharmonic. He was awarded the Bernard van Zuiden Music Fund Scholarship and the Juilliard Scholarship in support of his education. Currently Chan is a chamber music faculty in the HKAPA.
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Jaime Gonzalez
Gillet-Fox International Competition – Oboe Advisory Committee
Professional studies with Hans Elhorst, Thomas Indermühle and Heinz Holliger.
Since the year 2000 he has been a member of Ensemble Recherche, an important chamber music group for new music.
Since 2009 teachs oboe at the University of Arts in Bern (Switzerland).
In 1995 he founded the Arundo Ensemble, specialising in the performance of woodwinds chamber music from early baroque until new music.
Prizes won at international music competitions include Asti (Italy) , Mannheim and Bayreuth (Germany). In addition he received a scholarship from the University of Chile and the Chilean Cultural Ministry as well as the “Gustav Scheck” music prize of the Commerzbank Endowment.
Several solo-, chamber music and orchester music performances in all Europe, Japan and North -and South America with a repertoire from early baroque until contemporary music.
Many years was he asistent teacher at the Karlsruhe University for music and he was also guest teacher in several music highschools and given often masterclases around the world.
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Jeffrey Lyman
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Jeffrey Lyman
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Jeffrey Lyman has established himself as one of the premier performers, teachers, and historians of the bassoon in the U.S. He has been professor of bassoon at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD) since 2006, and, prior to that, held positions at Arizona State University and Bowling Green State University. His principal teachers include Bernard Garfield of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Richard Beene and Hugh Cooper of the University of Michigan (U-M). He holds an undergraduate degree from Temple University and his MM and DMA from U-M. He has been a member of numerous orchestras across the country and has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Savannah Symphony, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, the Grand Rapids Symphony, and the Michigan Opera Theatre, to name a few.
Lyman performs annually at the conferences of the International Double Reed Society and is a popular clinician at bassoon master classes around the world. He has given master classes and guest recitals at McGill University, USC, the Curtis Institute, the Eastman School, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Moscow), Florida State University, Rice University, and many others. In summers, he runs the MPulse Bassoon Institute, an intensive week-long program for high school bassoonists held at the SMTD’s Earl V. Moore Building.
Lyman is also known as an author and advocate of new music and has many publications and commissions to his credit. A member of the Rushes Ensemble, he was one of a consortium of bassoonists to commission, record and perform the groundbreaking work Rushes by Michael Gordon, and has toured Europe and the US in support of that work. Lyman has released multiple editions of works from the 19th and 20th centuries as part of the Jeffrey Lyman Edition at TrevCo Music Publishing, including the first English translation of the Nouvelle Méthode de Basson by Étienne Ozi, the first complete method for bassoon.
Dr. Lyman maintains an extensive YouTube channel filled with live videos of his concerts and of multiple degree recitals by members of the U-M Bassoon Studio. A second channel, the Katz-King-Lyman Trio, features video performances of music for oboe, bassoon and piano. He appears on Canteloupe Records, Summit, Le Chant du Monde, New World, Brasswell, Koch International and BlockM recordings.
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Alison Teale
Gillet-Fox International Competition – Oboe Advisory Committee
Alison Teale is a former student of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, having studied oboe with Nicholas Daniel and Helena Gaunt, and Cor Anglais with Jane Marshall.
Graduating with a BMus(Hons) 1st class degree at 22, she immediately took the position of Co-Principal Oboe with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. During her time there she won the highly acclaimed International Isle of Wight Oboe Competition (now the Isle of Man competition) and gave her London solo debut at the Purcell Room.
On her return to the UK, she became Principal Cor Anglais with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, moving to the same position a few years later with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, which she now considers her “home”.
During her time as the Cor Anglais player with the BBC Symphony, she produced her ground-breaking solo album COR, accompanied by Elizabeth Burley. This sets out to explore and promote the versatility of this beautiful instrument. The album has received great critical acclaim, leading to various recitals, and a guest appearance BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. In January 2020, Alison proudly changed seats in her own orchestra (BBC Symphony) to become Co Principal Oboe.
Alison’s other passion is education, taking up the role of Oboe Professor at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2010. Her interest in student education led her to complete a PG Cert in Performance Teaching, and she was awarded a Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy as a recognition of her teaching excellence.
She travels the world in her orchestral position and acts as ambassador for Lorée, giving masterclasses and recitals, her latest visits being to Malaga, Florida in which she opened the concert for the International Double Reed Conference in 2019, and to China.
She is also in demand as guest player for many of the other leading orchestras.
Alison can be heard in numerous orchestral concert recordings, on both cor and oboe, motion picture soundtracks and makes regular TV appearances within the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
She is no stranger to BBC Radio 3, taking part in pre-concert debates, presenting an episode of Inside Music in August 2019. She also recorded at home during lockdown The Garden of Love by Jacob TV, as an oboe solo, which was aired on the New Music programme, and is currently available to view on the BBC Symphony Orchestra website.
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Margaret Cookhorn
Gillet-Fox International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
Margaret was born in Birmingham UK and went to study Bassoon and Contrabassoon at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester UK. Whilst still being a student, she joined City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle as Music Director. She has played with most of the leading British Orchestras and with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
She performed two solo pieces for Contrabassoon written for her by Colin Matthews which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2004.
In 2009 at the IDRS conference held in Birmingham, she played the world premiere of ‘Falling Down’, a concerto for Contrabassoon and Orchestra in Symphony Hall, conducted by Andris Nelsons and also played the London Premiere at the BBC Proms in 2015.
In 2018 Margaret had a taste of being a presenter on the BBC Radio 3 Programme ‘Inside Music’ and was re invited to present a second programme in 2019. She is also one of BBC Radio 3 ‘New Generation Voices’, in which she has appeared on the programme ‘Essential Classics’.
Besides her work as a Contrabassoon tutor and Chamber Music Coach, Margaret is currently an independent trustee of the Derbyshire based Chamber Orchestra ‘Sinfonia Viva’
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Judith Farmer
Gillet-Fox International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
GRAMMY® nominee Judith Farmer is former principal bassoonist of the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Camerata Academica Salzburg under Sandor Vegh. Critics have described her playing as “impeccable” (American Record Guide), “masterly” (Fanfare) and “brilliant” (Kronenzeitung, Austria). She has appeared as a soloist at the Salzburg Festival and has participated in chamber music festivals in Prussia Cove (UK), Martha’s Vineyard, MA, Chautauqua, NY and La Jolla, CA. After moving to Los Angeles Ms. Farmer performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, also as guest associate principal. She played on more than 250 motion picture scores and has recorded with artists such as Daft Punk, Josh Groban, Billy Childs, Barbra Streisand and Neil Young. Judith is currently a member of the Los Angeles Opera and the Pasadena Symphony Orchestras. She taught bassoon and chamber music at the University of Southern California from 1996-2023. Since moving to Santa Fe with her husband, composer Gernot Wolfgang in 2023 she has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the New Mexico Philharmonic and the Santa Fe Symphony.
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Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Oboe Advisory Committee
Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia
Gillet-Fox International Competition – Bassoon Advisory Committee
MElizabeth Starr Masoudnia, solo English hornist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, since 1995, has toured the globe with the Orchestra to wide critical acclaim with many of the world’s finest conductors. A passionate advocate for the English horn, she has premiered many pieces written expressly for her including English horn concertos by Behzad Ranjbaran and Nicholas Maw, and English horn chamber music by David Ludwig and Stephen Cohn. She recently released an album for English horn alone, “English Horn Expressions”, that features several new commissions for the instrument.
A Philadelphia native, Ms. Masoudnia graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with John de Lancie, former principal oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra and former president of Curtis. Prior to that, she studied with the acclaimed oboist and English hornist, Louis Rosenblatt, her predecessor in the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Ms. Masoudnia was a participant in the Marlboro Music Festival and played oboe concertos with the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia (now the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia) and the New York Symphonic Ensemble. In addition, she was the solo English hornist of the Minnesota Orchestra for 7 years and is a featured artist on an album of Beethoven and Triebensee trios along with her Curtis oboe colleagues Marilyn Zupnick and Kathryn Greenbank. https://g.co/kgs/s1FNUax.
Ms. Masoudnia is on the faculty of Temple University and the Philadelphia International Music Festival where she teaches oboe and English horn and coaches chamber music. In addition, she has given English horn masterclasses and private English horn lessons at the Curtis Institute of Music and the New England Conservatory.
Lavinia Whitaker
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Oboe Advisory Committee
Lavinia Whitaker
Norma Hooks Young Artist International Competition – Oboe Advisory Committee
Lavinia is an Australian oboist who has been based in Berlin since 2001. She completed a Bachelor of Music (Honours) at the University of Western Australia studying with Joel Marangella. During her studies she was awarded several scholarships and won prizes in a variety of competitions and was also awarded the Janet Andersen Prize in 2000 for the most outstanding woodwind player of the year.
In 2000 she joined the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra as an oboist and cor anglais player and undertook various tours of Western and Eastern Europe over the course of three years.
The desire to develop her talent further led her to Berlin, where she continued her studies at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music with Dominik Wollenweber (solo cor anglais with the Berliner Philharmoniker).
She is an active performer mainly working Europe and Australia and has toured Asia and South America extensively. She has also held contracts with orchestras in Germany and Sweden.
In 2018 she started a reed making business Good Vibrations and enjoys making reeds for oboists world wide.
Honorary Membership Committee
Ravi Shankar Domingues (He/Him)
Doris DeLoach
Doris De Loach
A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Doris DeLoach, Professor Emerita of Oboe at Baylor University, was introduced to and fell in love with the oboe through public school music teachers. In the ninth grade, she was chosen to perform a concerto with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, and subsequently played with both the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Association Orchestras. She earned the BM degree at Florida State University where she studied with Sharon Sauser and Nancy Fowler, followed by the MME degree at George Peabody College for Teachers (now Vanderbilt) where she studied with Don Cassel and Walter Jouval and also earned the position of English hornist with the Nashville Symphony. After teaching in the public schools of Montgomery County, Maryland, for one year, she was invited to become the first doctoral student in oboe at Florida State with Nancy Fowler. After playing one more season with the Nashville Symphony and completing the DM in oboe, she was hired at Baylor University in 1972 and remained there 45 years. She studied extensively with Ray Still beginning in 1974 and for one summer with John de Lancie. A founding member of the Baylor Woodwind Quintet, she also played with the Waco Symphony. The quintet was privileged to be coached by Marcel Moyse for two residencies in Vermont. As a doctoral student at Florida State, she received the Ernst von Dohnanyi Award for excellence in performance. Baylor University honored her in 1991 as the Outstanding Creative Artist, and in 2001 she received the Florida State University School of Music's Faculty Citation for Excellence in Performing and Teaching. She was a faculty member of the MasterWorks Festival and has performed and taught extensively both nationally and internationally. Dr. DeLoach has been an active member of IDRS since 1978. Dr. DeLoach is proud of her former students and continues to follow and enjoy their careers as performers and teachers across the country, as well as those students who are not in the music profession but remain committed to supporting the arts. "27-72: A Tribute to Doris DeLoach", a sonata for oboe and piano by Alyssa Morris, is the result of a commission by a consortium of former students upon her retirement in 2018.
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Ben Hoadley
Ben Hoadley
Born in Auckland, Ben Hoadley holds degrees in bassoon performance from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the New England Conservatory in Boston. He received a Master of Music in composition with First Class Honours from the University of Waikato where he was awarded the Lilburn Composition Prize. Ben has held fellowships to the Australian National Academy of Music, Tanglewood Music Centre and the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall. Ben lectured at the University of Auckland from 2007 to 2022. Since 2019 he has tutored at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and since 2022 at the School of Music of the Australian National University where he also serves as principal bassoonist with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. He is regularly invited to teach at institutions throughout Australasia and abroad, including residencies at the University of Louisville, Miami University, University of New Hampshire and the University of Canterbury. Ben’s special interest in New Zealand repertoire has led to a number of collaborations and new works for bassoon. These include a collection of pieces by Gillian Whitehead which he has recorded on the Atoll CD "Arapātiki", which was a finalist in the 2014 NZ Music Awards. Ben is heard on several other Atoll CD’s including, "Southern Invention" featuring Australasian music for bassoon and piano. Among the many concerts that Ben has presented of music by NZ composers are recitals at the International Double Reed Society Conferences in Melbourne, California and Bangkok, and an annual series in Wellington and Auckland that he curated for over a decade. Ben premiered Alex Taylor's bassoon concerto in 2014 with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, subsequently performing and recording it with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Also with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, Ben gave the Australasian premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's "Concerto for Bassoon and Low Strings" in 2017.
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Pam Ajango
IDRS 2025 Host
Pamela Ajango is 2nd oboe/english hornist with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and teaches oboe at Butler University. As a full-time freelance oboist for over 25 years, her multifaceted playing style has led her to performances with professional symphonies and chamber groups to the pits of Broadway; from opera and ballet orchestras to multiple world premieres of new music; from Johnny Mathis to rock n’ roll; and almost everything in between.
From 1996-2002, Pam lived and worked in NYC. After completing school, she quickly began playing with the area’s top ensembles, including performances with the New York Philharmonic, the New Jersey Symphony, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; for the Broadway shows Ragtime, Cats, and Les Miserables; and as a commercial recording artist. She was the alumni assistant teacher for the oboe studio at MSM from 2001-2002. She also worked part-time for various arts organizations (New York Philharmonic, Midori & Friends, Carnegie Hall) in order to pay her rent, learning important arts administration skills along the way.
Since 2002, Pam has lived in her hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, where she has performed as an extra with the Indianapolis Symphony since 2003, frequently serves as principal oboe of the Indianapolis Opera, performs with visiting Broadway shows and artists, and is a top-call recording artist for many music publishers, including Hal Leonard and Alfred Publishing. She has been a featured soloist with the University of Indianapolis Festival Orchestra under the baton of Raymond Leppard (Bach, Concerto for Oboe and Violin, with Austin Hartmann), the Butler University Wind Ensemble with Col. Michael Colburn (Ticheli, Serenade for Kristin), and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra with Matthew Kraemer (Kay, Pieta for English Horn and Strings). She is a founding member of the Circle City Wind Quintet, formed in 2003 with members of the Indianapolis Symphony.
Pam’s past faculty positions include Earlham College, Anderson University, and the University of Indianapolis, prior to her appointment at Butler. She has taught at summer music festivals at Butler and Indiana University, as well as internationally. She has performed and lectured at the International Double Reed Society’s conferences since 2008. In June of 2025, Pam will co-host this society’s annual conference at Butler University. Her students have gone on to study at Interlochen, Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music, the Eastman School of Music, Indiana, Oberlin, and the New World Symphony in Miami.
Pam was fortunate to study with oboists Malcolm Smith, Ralph Gomberg, Joseph Robinson, and Stephen Taylor. She received her bachelor’s degree in oboe performance from Boston University and her master’s degree in orchestral performance from the Manhattan School of Music.
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Peggy Dudley
Peggy Dudley
Peggy Dudley was born in Detroit, Michigan, USA. She completed a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan studying with Hugh Cooper and a Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music where her teacher was Stephen Maxym. A scholarship gave her the opportunity to study at the Musik Hochschule in Munich. After her first job as Principal Bassoon of the Philharmonic Opera Orchestra in Nürnberg, Germany she became Solo Bassoonist with the Radio Orchestra of Frankfurt and later Assistant Solo Bassoonist of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Alongside being active as a teacher, she has performed as soloist and chamber music in the USA, Asia, and Europe.
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Bradley Johnson
Bradley Johnson
Dr. Bradley Johnson is Lecturer of bassoon at Eastern Michigan University and is an advocate of new music and promoter of diversity. He regularly performs music by underrepresented composers and has premiered numerous works by living composers.
Johnson previously held an academic position as Adjunct Instructor of Bassoon at Northern Arizona University, where he co-hosted the 2024 International Double Reed Society (IDRS) conference. He is also a member of the 2025 IDRS Conference Artistic Committee.
He has had an active performance career, having regularly performed with the Scottsdale Philharmonic, Flagstaff Symphony, and The Phoenix Symphony. He has also been a featured artist at numerous conferences such as IDRS, the Meg Quigley Symposium and Central Michigan University’s Woodwind festival. Johnson was also accepted to participate in the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, a three week festival in Lucerne, Switzerland that focuses on contemporary orchestral and chamber repertoire. While there, he worked with world renown musicians such as Enno Poppe, Susanna Mälkki, Ilan Volkov, Johannes Schwarz and Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson.
Johnson also has a love of chamber music and is a co-founder of the Arcane Reed Quintet (ARQ) that focuses on diversifying the reed quintet repertoire. ARQ has performed at the Coltman and Fischoff chamber music competitions, and have performed at the International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest as well as the 2024 IDRS conference.
Johnson received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University, and holds a Master of Music degree from Ithaca College and a Bachelor of Music degree from Central Michigan University.
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Doug Spaniol
IDRS 2025 Host
Doug Spaniol teaches at Interlochen Arts Camp and at Butler University where he received the Distinguished Faculty Award. His book, The New Weissenborn Method for Bassoon, has been called “a must for all your beginning students” (The Double Reed) and "an invaluable addition...a landmark in pedagogy" (Double Reed News).
A Yamaha Performing Artist, Spaniol has recorded solo and chamber music for record labels from Albany to Zephyr. He was principal bassoon of Sinfonia da Camera for eleven seasons. A member of Rock E Bassoon, he has also performed with The Rolling Stones, Art Garfunkel, and Michael Feinstein.
Spaniol has presented masterclasses in London, Cardiff, St. Petersburg (Russia) and across the US. He is both a Marshall Scholar and a Fulbright Scholar and studied at the University of Illinois (Berry), the Royal Northern College of Music (Waterhouse), and The Ohio State University (Weait). Along with Pam Ajango, Spaniol will co-host the 2025 IDRS Conference.
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Commissioning Committee
Nanci Belmont (She/Her)
commissioningchair@idrs.orgPraised as “a lyrical soloist” with “beautiful playing in both tone and technique” by the New York Concert Review, bassoonist Nanci Belmont is a dynamic performer and educator currently serving as Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Louisiana State University. An engaging soloist, Nanci is a Performing Artist for Leitzinger Bassoons and Second Prize winner of the 2016 Fernand Gillet-Hugo Fox Competition of the International Double Reed Society. She is driven by a desire to cultivate meaningful relationships and relevant musical experiences through performance and is frequently invited to perform as a soloist and chamber musician on festivals and series throughout the United States. Nanci is a member of The City of Tomorrow, an experimental wind quintet dedicated to the performance and expansion of contemporary repertoire and is also active in the commissioning of new works for bassoon. In other contemporary music ventures, Nanci has collaborated with contemporary groups such as Talea ensemble International Contemporary Ensemble, Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, and Alarm Will Sound. As an orchestral musician, she has performed with groups such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York City Ballet Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, and Charleston Symphony. In her role as an educator, Nanci strives to cultivate curious, lifelong learners in music. She has been invited to present clinics and master classes at a variety of colleges and universities across the country and is also on faculty at the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs, NY and the Trentino Music Festival Chamber Music & Orchestral Studio in Italy.
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Timothy Gocklin
Timothy Gocklin
Praised for his “remarkably beautiful oboe playing” (Fanfare Magazine), Timothy Gocklin shares his passion for music through his deep love for the oboe. He is the oboist with the Grammy award-winning Akropolis Reed Quintet, principal oboist of the Fort Collins Symphony, holds the positions of Artist-In-Residence in Oboe and woodwind chamber music coordinator at the University of Northern Colorado, and is the newly appointed principal oboist with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra.
Tim is a founding member of the Akropolis Reed Quintet and has won six national chamber music prizes, including the Fischoff Gold Medal and Grand Prize at both the Plowman and MTNA chamber music competitions. The group was awarded a Grammy at the 67th Grammy Awards for “Best Instrumental Composition” along with composer/pianist Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman for their work, “Strands,” on the group’s recent album Are We Dreaming the Same Dream. Founded in 2009, Akropolis has commissioned over 150 works for the reed quintet, most recently by composers Omar Thomas, Stephanie Ann Boyd, Pascal Le Boeuf, and Augusta Read Thomas, and have twice appeared on the top 10 classical Billboard charts. They have toured the world from Alaska to Abu Dhabi, teaching, performing, and sharing their passion for excellence and innovation.
Tim has performed in a wide variety of settings with ensembles such as The Orchestra of St. Luke's, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Cheyenne Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Colorado Music Festival and The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Tim’s summer engagements have included appearances at Chamber Music Northwest, the Caramoor Festival, the Summerwinds Festival in Münster, Germany, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, Cape Cod Music Festival, Mostly Modern Festival, and fellowships at the Norfolk and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals. His main teachers include Nancy Ambrose King, Stephen Taylor, and Margaret Herlehy. When not “oboeing”, Tim thoroughly enjoys exploring various methods of coffee brewing and quality time with his cat, Shino.
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Kincaid Rabb (They/Them)
Kincaid Rabb (They/Them)
Kincaid Rabb is a composer, storyteller, and tyrannosaurus rex. Kincaid writes music for waders, swimmers, and divers alike, each work its own little world accessible to everyone. Kincaid holds degrees from the University of Arizona and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and their principal teachers include Douglas Harbin, Daniel Asia, Pamela Decker, Jennifer Bellor, and Jennifer Jolley.
Kincaid’s works are exclusively published by Trevco Music. Kincaid lives in San Diego, California.
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Christoph Wichert
Christoph Wichert
Austrian bassoonist Christoph Karl Wichert has been a member of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra since 2008. He graduated from the Conservatory of Vienna, where he studied Bassoon Performance under Michael Werba (Principal Bassoon, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) and Music Education, further enhancing his training through masterclasses with leading musicians.
In Vienna, Christoph gained experience performing with prominent Viennese ensembles such as the Wiener Kammerorchester. He also worked as a substitute musician for the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, collaborating with renowned conductors like Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons, Riccardo Muti, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
An active soloist, Christoph has performed in various recitals and with orchestras, showcasing concertos by Mozart, Weber, Pauer, and Hartl, among others. Before relocating to Singapore, he served as Principal Bassoonist with the Orchester der Vereinigten Bühnen Wien for their productions and taught bassoon, music theory, and symphonic wind band at the music school in Tulln. There, he successfully prepared students for admission to prestigious music universities and co-founded a composition workshop with his colleague Cordula Bösze.
Beyond his role with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Christoph teaches at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore Contemporary and Experimental Music and is a guest artist at the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music in Bangkok.
In 2015, Christoph co-founded SETTS, Singapore’s first fully professional contemporary music ensemble, alongside other dedicated musicians.
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Esther Williams
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/
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Fernando Zúñiga-Chanto (He/Him)
Fernando Zuniga Charo (He/Him)
Fernando Zúñiga-Chanto is a prominent Costa Rican musician who earned his degrees at the University of Arizona, where he achieved the DMA in bassoon performance, at Baylor University, where he achieved the MM in bassoon and piano performance, and at the University of Costa Rica, where he obtained his Bachelor's and Licenciatura’s degrees in bassoon and piano performance.
He has taken part in international engagements throughout his career, including the Conference of the International Double Reed Society (IDRS), the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Symposium and Competition, as well as recitals in various regions of the United States and Mexico, among other countries.
As a soloist, he has had the opportunity to perform with various orchestras and ensembles, including the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the Sewanee Festival Orchestra, the Baylor Symphony Orchestra, the Truman State University Symphony Orchestra, the Heredia Municipal Symphony Orchestra, the Cartago Symphony Orchestra, the Cartago Concert Band, the National Symphony Orchestra of Panama and the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Costa Rica (OSUCR), among others.In addition, he has held the principal bassoon position at several orchestras, such as the University of Costa Rica Symphony Orchestra, the Baylor Symphony, the Baylor Wind Ensemble, the Waco Symphony Orchestra, the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra and the Arizona Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated as a contrabassoonist with the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra and the Waco Symphony Orchestra. In 2017, Fernando Zúñiga carried out the first record production for solo bassoon of Costa Rican music, entitled "Historias", which includes six works written especially for this occasion.
In an effort to experiment with new bassoon playing techniques, he founded the group "Electrofagot" in 2019. This group's goal is to use multi-effects pedalboards to include electronics into bassoon performance. The advanced bassoon students are asked to volunteer for this project, which is envisioned as a teaching endeavor.
Currently, Fernando Zúñiga works as a professor at the School of Musical Arts of the University of Costa Rica and continues to stand out in the world of music with his performances, compositions and innovative projects. Fernando’s composition, Concerto for bassoon and strings Mamba Mambo was awarded the National Composition Prize of Costa Rica “Carlos Enrique Vargas” in 2024. Fernando plays a Moosmann M200CL-FLP bassoon.
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Midori Samson (She/Her/Siya)
Dr. Midori Samson (she/her/siya) サムソンみどり is a bassoonist, educator, sound artist, and social worker whose artistic practice integrates music with social justice and healing-centered care. She leads the bassoon studio at the University of Kansas, performs as a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and teaches at the Bay View Music Festival.
Her proudest recent activities include working with community members on the Turkey/Syria border to lead circus performances for refugee families; co-writing a play with artists in Kigali to commemorate the anniversary of the Rwandan genocide; commissioning twenty solo bassoon works by composers from across Africa; researching the artistic contributions of Hiroshima atomic bomb survivors; composing an autoethnographic album about historical trauma; leading virtual arts therapy sessions for internally displaced high schoolers in Ukraine; performing her sound art works about the World War II incarceration of her Japanese American family; collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma and Gabriela Lena Frank; facilitating arts-based group therapy for Ukrainian refugee parents in Poland; working with families to research and document lullabies of the Caucasus mountains (Georgia); designing trauma-informed arts curricula for youth and teens around the world who are coping with the stressors of poverty, transphobia, homophobia, war, family separation, homelessness, abuse, neglect, and grief.
Midori holds degrees in bassoon performance from The Juilliard School, University of Texas at Austin, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. This year, she will complete a Master of Social Work degree at the University of Michigan, where she focuses on trauma and crisis intervention.
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Ari Cohen Mann (They/Them)
Ari Cohen Mann (They/Them)
Ari Cohen Mann (they/them) serves up brightness and optimism through their popular social media channels and "brilliant virtuosity" (The Whole Note) through their playing. Ari has been hailed as the "Jonathan Van Ness of the oboe" (CBC Music), proudly championing their queer identity and serving as a role model for LGBTQ youth. Based in Toronto, Ari is a dynamic recitalist, new music proponent, orchestral musician, and educator. Recognized on CBC's 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30, they are also a Howarth Artist, performing on a Howarth LXV-VT oboe.
With playing described as “emotionally charged” (Ludwig van Toronto), Ari's career includes performances as a concerto soloist with the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra, National Academy Orchestra, Canadian Studio Symphony, and Ontario Philharmonic. Ari has premiered works by composers including Jocelyn Morlock, Nicky Sohn, Matthew Emery, and Felipe Téllez. Ari’s solo debut at Carnegie Hall was with harpist Noël Wan, as featured artists in the Yale in New York series. Ari was a prizewinner at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition, and the winner of the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition and Ben Steinberg Musical Legacy Award.
Equally at home within the orchestra, Ari has performed with esteemed ensembles such as the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. As a faculty member at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ari teaches oboe and coaches chamber music. Connect with them at www.oboeari.com
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Vincent TyRaudel Martinez (They/Them)
Vincent TyRaudel Martinez (They/Them)
Dayton, Ohio native Vincent TyRaudel Martinez (they/them): bassoonist, educator and thoughtful spirit towards the promotion of diversity in the arts. Having held positions teaching privately, as assistant band director at Berry Intermediate in Lebanon, Ohio, and three summers on music staff at Interlochen Fine Arts Camp; Vincent strives to foster engaging and brave spaces for expression. An avid performer and promoter of diversity through new music, Vincent has commissioned and been a consortium member of numerous works: including those from composers Amanda Harberg, Gilbert Galindo, Thomas Johnston, Noah Green, and as a member of the Double Reed Dish consortium. As of 2025 Vincent is a Teaching Artist Fellow with the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, a position rooted in empowering musicians of color while providing teaching and artistic opportunities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Aiming to continue to engage in new music from their peers and composers abroad, they strive to impact their communities in a way that makes the world brighter, one note at a time.
Other awards and engagements have included; 2022 Randy and Nora Paul Young Artist Competition Finalist, 2019 Wright State University Music Education Student of the Year, 2018 Most Improved Member of Wright State University Chamber Players. Vincent has held seats as contrabassoonist with Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra, second bassoonist of Mason Symphony Orchestra, principal bassoonist of Springboro Wind Symphony, as principal bassoonist of Wright State Universitys’ Chamber Orchestra and Wind Symphony, as well as Bowling Green State University’s Wind Symphony. They earned their Bachelor of Music Education from Wright State University in 2020 and was the first student to complete Wright States’ Performance Specialist Certificate program in 2022. In 2024 they completed their Master’s in Bassoon Performance from Bowling Green State University. Vincents’ primary teachers are Mr. James Edwards-Kenion, Mr. Bill Jobert, and Dr. Susan Nelson.
On a more personal note Vincent feels it important to acknowledge and bring attention to their journey and struggle of mental health. They say directly, “I feel that by being myself in all spaces, especially that of an educator, that I as a non-binary individual, a first generation Hispanic American, a first generation college graduate, an individual affected by anxiety and depression, and simply as someone who wants to be a bright light in the world; that by being myself I can show others that it truly is worth being themselves too.” This drives as many musical, artistic and educational opportunities that they can find, and is the root of their personal philosophy as an educator."
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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.
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