Nashville Double Reed Ensemble: March 2008

Thursday, March 6, 2008

The Nashville Double Reed Ensemble was founded by its artistic director Dewayne Pigg on April 19, 2003. The NDRE is an ensemble that has performed at many different venues in the Nashville area. Some of these notable sites are Lipscomb University, Middle Tennessee State University, Nashville Public Library, Bachanalia festival at Christ Church Cathedral, and "Live in Studio C " at WPLN public radio. The NDRE has had several notable performers and teachers in the double reed world such as Mark Ostoich, oboe, Cincinnati Conservatory; Arthur Weisberg, bassoon, Indiana University; Jonathan Dlouhy, Atlanta Symphony; and Chris Weait, bassoon, Ohio State University, perform in concert within the ranks of the ensemble. The NDRE is looking forward to having Jeff Rathbun of the Cleveland Orchestra and Steve Wilson of the National Symphony Orchestra from Washington D.C. join us in two performances in April 2009 on the campus of Lipscomb University (music.lipscomb.edu). The ensemble includes oboes, oboe d'amore, English horns, bassoons, and contrabassoons. The NDRE is best characterized by its unique instrumentation and its colorful tonal richness. It was Dewayne's interest to bring together some of Nashville's leading free-lance oboists and bassoonists to play good double reed literature, to help educate the public about double reeds, to encourage double reed playing in school music programs, and to have fun making music together.

The ensemble has an extensive melange of career interests within its participants. There is an engineer, Nashville school music teacher, band director, retired band director, free-lance musicians, adjunct and full-time music faculties on university campuses, and orchestra players.

It is the dream of the NDRE to serve as a model for the development of other double reed ensembles throughout the nation. "While we cherish our involvement and recognition in the Nashville and surrounding communities, we look forward to earning a national interest in our ensemble and our brand of music. We will perform original works from different style periods and genre. We will also perform arrangements and transcriptions by ensemble members, local arrangers, national and international composers and arrangers, and student arrangers from the area."

The players are Dewayne Pigg (oboe, oboe d'amore, English horn), Margie Yankeelov (oboe, English horn), Robby Shankle (oboe, English horn), Laura Boucher (oboe), Amanda Thompson (oboe, English horn), Nicole McVey (oboe, English horn), Jeff Smith (oboe, English horn), Rachel Maczko (oboe), Miriam Lense (oboe), Sally Reid (English horn), Kate Affainie (bassoon), Wilson Sharpe (bassoon), Harold Skelton (bassoon), Dong-Yun Kwon (bassoon), Patricia Gunter (bassoon, contrabassoon), and Andrew Witherington (bassoon, contrabassoon). Stephen Rhodes and Gerald Moore, conductors.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Kate Affainie, bassoon

Kate is a freelance professional bassoonist and music specialist in the Mid-TN area. She has a Bachelor from Ball State University and a Master from Cincinnati Conservatory. She has also earned her teaching license from Belmont University. She has freelanced with the Cincinnati and Nashville orchestras and the Nashville Opera. Kate was the former principal bassoon with the Richmond, IN and Lexington, KY orchestras. She has been a music specialist at Granberry Elementary for 12 years. She is married to Paul and has a daughter named Elese with a dog named Little Bit. Her hobbies are gardening, reading, chocolate, and horses.

Laura Boucher, oboe

Laura Boucher has enjoyed living in Nashville for the past nine years. She is a graduate of Tennessee Technological University with a degree in Instrumental Music Education. She then went on to receive her Master in Wind Conducting from Indiana State University. Laura is currently one of the band directors at McGavock High School in Nashville, Tennessee. Additionally, she plays as a free-lance musician and teaches private oboe lessons. She recently served as an adjunct oboe instructor at Tennessee State University and Western Kentucky University.

Patricia Gunter; bassoon, contrabassoon

Ms. Patricia Gunter has been Adjunct Instructor of Music (bassoon) at the Belmont University School of Music since 1982. Her musical career began at age five with the piano. Patricia's best friend's mother was a local minister's wife/piano teacher. The young pianist career was cut short when the family moved to St. Louis and the piano remained in Oak Ridge. She discovered the bassoon in high school. It lured her away from the flute and she went on to receive her Master's degree in bassoon from Indiana University.

Ms. Gunter was a member of the Nashville Symphony from 1981 - 2003. She currently freelances in Kentucky, Indiana, and Alabama. Patricia teaches bassoon at Tennessee State University. Ms. Gunter is a member of the Nashville Double Reed Ensemble and the instigator of "Bassoonery" , a local bassoon quintet. She also teaches bassoon at two of Nashville's local magnet schools: Hume Fogg and Martin Luther King. Ms. Gunter is one of the founding members of Belmont's faculty woodwind quintet. She also performs with Belmont's Camerata Musicale and Opus 5, a local woodwind quintet.

Dong-Yun Kwon, bassoon

Dong-Yun Kwon who resides in Nashville and serves as adjunct professor of bassoon at Campbellsville University in Kentucky. She is currently principal bassoonist with the Bowling Green Chamber Orchestra and the Paducah Symphony Orchestra. She hold degrees in bassoon performance from Catholic University in her native Korea and Rotterdam Royal Conservatorium in Holland. Ms. Kwon served as principal bassoonist with Pusan Philharmonic and the KBS Symphony Orchestra from 1983 to 2001 and was the founding member of the Korea Women's Woodwind Quintet. She is well known internationally as a recording artists, soloist, and teacher.

Miriam Lense, oboe

Miriam Lense is a freelance oboist and violinist with experience performing in classical, pops, and klezmer ensembles. Prior to moving to Nashville, she performed in several ensembles in the New England area, including the Ocean State Summer Pops Orchestra, Harvard Bach Society Orchestra and Harvard Pops Orchestra. She was a soloist with the Ocean State Summer Pops Orchestra for a featured performance of "Gabriel's Oboe" during their 2007 season. She was also a founding member of Recklez, the Harvard Klezmer Ensemble.

Rachel Maczko, oboe

Rachel Maczko has been living in greater Nashville for just over a year. Before moving to the area she received her Bachelor of Music degree at Louisiana State University and her Master of Music degree at Boston University in music performance. Throughout her schooling, Rachel has studied under many great oboists including Linda Strommen, Jonathan Dlouhy, Laura Ahbeck, and Daniel Stolper. Currently, Rachel is playing for touring orchestras out of Atlanta and is also working as a freelance performer and teacher in the Nashville area.

Nicole McVey: oboe, English horn

Nicole McVey plays oboe and English horn and has been a member of the Nashville Double Reed Ensemble since 2005. She freelances and teaches in the Nashville, TN area. She teaches music appreciation at Middle Tennessee State University as an adjunct instructor. She is a graduate of the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University where she studied with Bobby Taylor. She holds a Master of Music in oboe from Indiana University where she studied with Marc Lifschey and Nicholas Daniel. She was a member of the United States Army Europe Band from 2001-2004 and travelled all over Europe performing for dignitaries and world leaders. Nicole is married to her husband Tim and they have two wonderful boys Logan and Duncan.

Gerald Moore, Assistant Conductor

Gerald Moore has both a B.M. and M.M.E in music education from the University of North Texas and a D.M.E. from the University of Oklahoma in music theory. He plays modern and historic woodwind instruments and has directed bands and choirs at various levels in Texas. He is currently retired from Lipscomb University after thirty-two years of teaching music theory and directing the Jazz Vocal Ensemble and the Early Music Consort. He is presently the music director of the Nashville Early Music Ensemble.

Dewayne Pigg: oboe, oboe d'amore, English horn

Dewayne Pigg, Professor of Music and Double Reeds at Middle Tennessee State University and adjunct oboe instructor at Lipscomb University, is formerly managing director of of the Stones River Chamber Players at MTSU. Mr. Pigg was the co-founder of the Stones River Chamber Players. He has recorded with the chamber players William Grant Still's Miniatures for Flute, Oboe, and Piano; Henry Cowell's Quartet for Flute, Oboe, Cello & Harpsichord; and Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Piano by Madeline Dring. He has also recorded with such stars as John Denver, Johnny Cash, Mel Tillis, Erlene Mandrell and others. He can be heard playing English horn on the sound track of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds. He is also on the sound track for a documentary about the life of Paul Lawrence Dunbar. While also a member of the Belmont Chamber Winds and the Camarata Musicale (Belmont University), the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, and solo English horn with the Nashville Symphony, he has been a frequent performer throughout Middle Tennessee, West Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Alabama.

He has performed on the oboe, oboe d'amore, and English horn in solo recitals, chamber music concerts, recording sessions, and on the radio for WPLN's "In Concert" series and the recent

series "Live in Studio C". He has also performed in chamber and orchestra concerts in Nassau, Bahamas; Stratford, Canada; Spain, Greece, France, and Germany. Mr. Pigg has been invited to play at the International Double Reed Society with The Amoris Consort in Chicago, IL, and in Madison, Wisconsin as part of the opening gala concert for the conference. Mr. Pigg has served as a faculty member at Fisk University, Freewill Baptist College, Trevecca University, Belmont University, Lipscomb University, and Middle Tennessee State University; as well as the Governor's School for the Arts of Tennessee.

Mr. Pigg holds degrees from George Peabody College and Fisk University where Don Cassel (a graduate of the Curtiss Institute with Marcel Tabateau), former principal oboe with the Nashville Symphony, was his teacher. Other major influences during his studies were Robert Bloom at Yale University, doctoral studies with Jerry Sirucek and Marc Lifschey at Indiana University; Ray Still(principal oboe) and Grover Schiltz(English horn) of the Chicago Symphony; Joseph Robinson (principal oboe) and Thomas Stacy (English horn and oboe d'amore soloist) of the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Pigg has been a member of the MTSU faculty since 1982.

Dewayne is the founder and CEO of PAD Artists Management, PAD Publications, and Dewayne Pigg T-shirts. He was formerly co-owner of the Donut Depot in Dickson, TN.

Sally Reid, English horn

Composer Sally Reid was born in East Liverpool, Ohio, in 1948. She holds the Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Reid joins the Lipscomb faculty from Abilene Christian University where she served for eleven years as Department Chair. Reid has also served as President of the International Alliance for Women in Music.

Dr. Reid has received annual ASCAP awards since 1987. Her compositions have been performed across the United States, in Europe, and in Australia. Her works are published by Hildegard Publishing, Southern Music, and Elm Creek Music.

As an oboist, Reid has held positions in the Abilene Philharmonic and the San Angelo Symphony. She has studied with Richard Blair and Thomas Stacy.

Stephen Rhodes, Conductor

Stephen Rhodes is professor of Music and Director of Bnds at Lipscomb University where he directs both the concert band and jazz ensemble, teaches courses in conducting, various instrumental methods, and history of jazz, as well as maintaining a trombone/euphonium studio. He has published articles for The Instrumentalist and BD Guide and has written a book, The History of Wind Band, which is currently available online. He is currently creating several podcasts on the music for the wind band for Altissimo! Recordings. Dr. Rhodes is founding director of the Nashville Wind Ensemble, a group of select musicians who have performed across the Mid-state in numerous high schools, churches, and colleges, as well as numerous appearances at the Tennessee Governer's School for the Arts and the Tennessee Music Educators Association Convention. He is in yearly demand as a guest conductor/adjudicator for a variety of venues including Hermitage Music Festivals and the Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts. Dr. Rhodes is honored to assist with conducting the Nashville Double Reed Ensemble.

Jeff Smith; oboe, English horn

Originally from the Nashville area, Jeffrey Smith has studied with Bobby Taylor, Ellen Menking, Linda Fountain-George, John Dee, Robert Weiner, and Russ DeLuna. Having received his Bachelor's degree in Oboe Performance from the University of Miami (FL), he is currently finishing his Master's degree in Performance at Belmont University. Smith is a freelance artists in Nashville and Miami areas and recorded with performers such as Bella Davidomich, Jim Brickman, and the Gaither Family. Smith was recently inducted into Pi Kappa Lamda and is proud to perform with the NDRE.

Robby Shankle; oboe, English horn

Robby is originally from North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he received a Bachelors in Music Education. He has resided in Nashville for almost 20 years. Robby has made a living as a professional musician and teacher. His free-lance playing includes orchestras, Broadway shows, and recording work as well as school and church programs. Robby has taught private lessons in the area and nor currently teaches at Trevecca, Lipscomb, and Cumberland Universities. He is happy to be a part of the Nashville Double Reed Ensemble and its future.

Wilson Sharpe, bassoon

Wilson Sharpe is a freelance bassoonist and retired band director from Murfreesboro, TN. Wilson has a B.S. degree from the University of Tennessee and did graduate studies at Ohio State University with Chris Weait. He has taught in the public schools of Tennessee and Georgia for 32 years. Wilson has also served as adjunct instructor in bassoon and double reeds at Austin Peay State University, David Lipscomb University, Knoxville College, Maryville College, and Middle Tennessee State University.

Mr. Sharpe is presently a member of the Murfreesboro Symphony Orchestra (12 years), a former member of the Chattanooga Symphony (6 years), and the 129th Army National Guard Band in Nashville. He has performed with the Huntsville, Knoxville, Oak Ridge, Johnson City, and Kingsport symphonies and currently plays with the Otter Creek Quintet and the Nashville Double Reed Ensemble.

Harold Skelton, bassoon, composer/arranger-in-resident

Harold studied with Cynthia Estill, John Patterson, and Otto Eifert and holds a degree in bassoon performance from Louisiana State University. He also pursed graduate studies in bassoon performance at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Harold performs with various professional and volunteer ensembles around Nashville including the NDRE, the Trevecca Symphony Orchestra, the Murfreesboro Symphony, and the Nashville Wind Ensemble. Harold also holds a degree in mechanical engineering. His day gig is as a lead product development engineer for Whirlpool Corporation in Lavergne, TN.

Amanda Thompson; oboe, English horn

Amanda is manager and promoter of the Pat Patrick Band (PPB) thru Patrick Music for the past six years. She has travelled with the PPB across the country for phenomenal events. Ms. Thompson is also a freelance teacher and performer on oboe and English horn. She is a member of the Nashville Double Reed Ensemble which comprises of 15 double reed players from oboe to contrabassoon. The NDRE has been featured on WPLN's "Live in Studio C" as well as concerts throughout the year at various venues. With her strong music background and desire for great music to be heard, she serves on the Nashville Jazz Orchestra's Board of Directors as the Community Relations Chair. Ms Thompson is also a Young Executive Board Member of the Nashville City Club and serves as secretary on this board. She is finishing her provisional year with the Jr. League of Nashville. She is also a member of the Young Leader's Council of the Jr. League. Ms. Thompson is an alumni of Middle Tennessee State University.

Andrew Witherington; bassoon, contrabassoon

Andrew Witherington has performed with numerous orchestras and ensembles as bassoonist and contrabassoonist throughout the US including Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Kansas, West Virginia and now Tennessee where he originally discovered his love for music-as a young bassoonist in Nashville. He began his musical training on the piano before beginning his bassoon studies at Blair School of Music. He recieved his Bacheor of Music from Indiana University, Master of Music from Witchita State University and post-graduate doctoral studies in bassoon at University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Mr. Witherington's bassoon teachers include William Winstead, Sidney Rosenberg, Nancy Lutes, Nancy Goeres and Cynthia Estill.

Mr. Witherington has performed with orchestras including the Springfield Symphony, Lima Symphony, Cincinnati Chamber, Cincinnati Ballet, Dayton Philharmonic, Cleveland Opera, Kentucky Symphony, Louisville, Owensboro Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Evansville Philharmonic, Witchita Symphony, New World Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, River City Symphony, and Seneca Chamber. He performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Chautauqua, Lancaster, and Sarasota music festivals. In January 2005, Witherington appeared as soloist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra performing Mozart's Bassoon concerto as part of their subscription series. Currently he is a free-lance bassoonist residing in Nashville and, in addition to the NDRE, also performs with the bassoon quintet Bassoonery.

Margie Yankeelov; oboe, English horn

Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Margie Yankeelov received a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and Oboe Performance from Belmont University in 1998. After teaching general music in Metro Nashville Public Schools, she attended the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where she earned a Masters degree in Oboe Performance. She then moved to Long Island, NY to be with her husband, Thomas. While in New York, she served as the Minister of Music at New Life Community Church and taught oboe and piano. Margie has done extensive freelancing in both Nashville and Cincinnati, playing with groups ranging from Orchestra Nashville to the Nashville Symphony, to solo singer-songwriter acts and rock bands. She currently teaches theory courses in the School of Music at Belmont University, oboe and double reed ensemble at Tennessee State University, and is a doctoral candidate at Boston University.