Noteworthy: Professor of Clarinet, UW-Madison; clarinetist with the Wingra Quintet; clarinetist in the Grand Teton Music Festival, Jackson, WY; doctorate from Michigan State University.
Oddest practice quarters: A sleeping compartment on the cross-Canada train and a tent in Yellowstone National Park.
Funniest concert experience: I was on tour with the Powers Woodwind Quintet when the bow tie of our oboist went flying past my ear! It seems he had a clip-on tie and the pressure of his playing made it pop. The audience started to laugh and we could barely finish the piece because we were laughing, too.
What your colleagues don't know about you: I love to hike and take photos of nature and wildlife.
Recurrent musical fantasy: To wield the baton and conduct a fabulous orchestra.

Noteworthy: Graduate of Manhattan School of Music and UW-Madison. Currently member of Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and Present Music (Milwaukee).
Oddest practice quarters: The back of an RV camper (while in transit!)
Funniest concert experience: Performing from a gondola in the Milwaukee River on the way to the Marcus Center for Performing Arts.
What your colleagues don't know about you: I can sing children's songs in Chinese.
Recurrent musical fantasy: To play baroque bassoon in a period-style orchestra.

My oboe career began in the 4th grade when my band director in Waukegan, Illinois, Bernie Stiner, announced, "you will be an oboe player," and handed me an instrument. More than 50 years later, the oboe has taken me all over the world, from the North Slope of Alaska to the People's Republic of China; from the capital of Tatarstan (Kazan, Russia) to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

My Madison Symphony Orchestra career spans three decades, as English hornist, principal oboist, and concerto soloist (including concertos by Frank Martin, J.S. Bach, Cimarosa, Strauss and Vivaldi). My faculty appointment at the UW-Madison School of Music includes teaching oboe and chamber music and performing in the Wingra Woodwind Quintet. I have released two CDs through the School of Music Recording Series: Music for Oboe and Strings with the Pro Arte Quartet and Russian Oboe Music. I'm very active in the International Double Reed Society, and I served as president in 1998-2002, as conference host in Madison in 1999 and as co-host in Banff in 2002. I and my wife Marcia have three college-age daughters: Leah, Anna and Ellie; and two non-college-age pugs: Jimi and Yoda.

Noteworthy: I won the contest for Miss Artichoke of San Joaquin County, CA, and wore an artichoke petal dress and gown.
Oddest practice quarters: Airplane bathrooms.
Funniest concert experience: Putting Playboy Bunny centerfolds in an opera conductor's music and watching his face when he turns the special pages.
What your colleagues don't know about you: I'm very quiet at home.
Recurrent musical fantasy: Playing cello in the Schubert Quintet.
If I were John DeMain for a day: I'd take a long bubble bath!

Noteworthy: Performed at 2000 National Flute Association Convention with "Flutes Quatre"; perform with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Beloit/Janesville, and Rockford Symphony Orchestras; taught flute at Beloit College; bachelor of music from UW-Whitewater.
Funniest concert experience: At an outdoor concert, a nasty storm was approaching to the conductor's back. When the storm hit, music and stands went flying and musicians started to scramble for shelter. The conductor just kept on conducting, being true to the phrase "the show must go on."
What your colleagues don't know about you: I am a student of T'ai Chi and an avid gardener.

Noteworthy: B.M. Summa Cum Laude, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; M.M. University of Michigan; Second Bassoon, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; former member, Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
Oddest practice quarters: Outside the Louvre in Paris. The French police promptly kicked me out.
Funniest concert experience: I was playing in the pit for an opera production where one of the props was a mechanical rat. It somehow went off course and ran into the pit, falling on a violist.
What your colleagues don't know about you: I don't like chocolate!
Recurrent musical fantasy: I would love to sing on Broadway.

Noteworthy: D.M.A. UW-Madison; dissertation on Milhaud's compositions for clarinet; mother of two.
Oddest practice quarters: Waupun Prison (on tour with Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra).
What your colleagues don't know about you: I have played almost 100 performances of Concerts on the Square and every Nutcracker since 1980.

Noteworthy: B.M. San Francisco Conservatory of Music; M.M. University of Michigan (fellowship recipient); D.M.A. in progress UW-Madison (Music Theory Teaching Assistant); Third Prize, National Flute Association Young Artist Competition; member of Utah Festival Opera Company.
Funniest concert moment: One year, at the annual University of Michigan concert to raise money for scholarships, the flute section dressed as the "fruit section" and danced from the back of the hall to the stage following our "Carmen Miranda."
What your colleagues don't know about you: I have the freakishly useless ability of remembering song lyrics. I have hundreds, if not thousands, memorized and specialize in "80s TV show theme songs.
Recurrent musical fantasy: I have always wanted to be the lead singer in a folky rock band.

Noteworthy: Member of Oakwood Chamber Players and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; have private studio; B.M. and M.M. from University of North Texas; mother of two.
Funniest concert moment: When an uninvited bat almost stole the show - and it was not Die Fledermaus.
Oddest practice quarters: Imagine an oboe in the car on a family vacation...
What your colleagues don't know about you: Sold Fuller brushes to buy my first professional instrument.

Noteworthy: Bachelor's degree from UW-Madison; Master's degree and Performer's Certificate from Manhattan School of Music; Principal Bassoon for Beloit/Janesville Symphony and Oshkosh Symphony.
Oddest practice quarters: A janitor's closet in the basement of a church.
Funniest concert experience: A lens popped out of my glasses on my way out onto the stage, so I had to play the first movement with the music stand directly in front of my face - I couldn't see the music or the conductor. The stagehands fixed my glasses backstage and brought them out to me between movements to the applause of the audience.
Recurrent musical nightmare: I'm sitting on stage in front of a sold-out house about to play Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and realize I forgot my reed.

Noteworthy: Graduate of UW School of Music; MSO member since 1972; local jazz musician.
Oddest practice quarters: Rehearsing "The Girl from Ipanema" on the #10 tee at Blackhawk Country Club...in the dark.
Funniest concert experience: Dixieland band in a small town parade. Fire engine in line behind us sounds its siren. Trombone player gestures his displeasure. Fire engine makes sure we are not heard for the rest of the parade.
What your colleagues don't know about you: I am a charter member of the Terrible Clown Band featured in Milwaukee's Great Circus Parade.
Recurrent musical fantasy: Performing bass saxophone with a really hot jazz band.