I had a blast at the 2016 International Double Reed Society conference, hosted by Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. As I have said before, the IDRS puts on an outstanding conference, maybe my favorite of the various woodwind conferences I attend. Very well organized, with lots of outstanding talent, varied events, and presences from all the top makers and dealers of double reed instruments and gear.
A few personal highlights:
- Excellent evening concerts, some with chamber music and some with orchestra. Too many great performances to do justice to them all, but a couple that stood out in my mind were the premiere of Alan Elkins’s double oboe concerto with Elizabeth Koch Tiscione and Kathryn Greenbank, and Cary Ebli‘s performance of his own edition of the Donizetti Concertino for English horn.
Elizabeth Koch Tiscione and Kathryn Greenbank - Too many recitals to count. I liked, among others, Joey Salvalaggio‘s “When Giant Babies Attack,” Paul Hanson‘s always-astonishing solo bassoon with electronics, the Paradise Winds reed quintet, Benjamin Coelho with Andrew Parker, Eric Stomberg with Barry Stees, and Mark Ostoich with Alyssa Morris and Petrea Warneck playing Morris’s new and outstanding trio for two oboes and English horn.
Paul Hanson sound check, with appropriate reaction from conference volunteer - Some very interesting lectures and presentations. A few favorites were Mark Eubanks‘s on bassoon reed tuning, Jamie Sampson‘s on her methodical research into bassoon multiphonics, and Janet Grice‘s on adapting Brazilian choros to double reed instruments.
- I gave a presentation on teaching multiple instruments. You can check out my handout/lecture notes if you like.
- I got to meet or reconnect with lots of cool people, including some who, to my delight and surprise, introduced themselves as “fans” of this blog or of my other online stuff. I’m always happy to connect with nice people who find my stuff useful or interesting in some way.
- And I did come home with a, uh, souvenir:
