Francisco Castillo, Oboe/Oboe D’Amore, is Principal oboe for Redlands Symphony, California Philharmonic Orchestra and teaches oboe at the University of Redlands, Pomona College, Pasadena City College, Los Angeles High School for the Arts and Idyllwild Arts.
He recorded the Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra by Charles Fernandez with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Francisco also recorded an oboe solo CD, “The Bolero Project & Más”. It features Latin standards, sweetened by original compositions. The Project aims to offer a unique and definitive interpretation of Latin romanticism.
His Rhapsody for Oboe, English Horn and Orchestra was premiered with the Redlands Symphony with Liang Wang on Oboe and Francisco Castillo on the English Horn.
The Redlands Daily Fact wrote: “…The music practically danced off the stage … I heard someone say afterward that “the orchestra got a workout.” So did Wang and Castillo, but it looked and sounded as if they had fun with the music.
Cheryl Denice Wefler, OBOE, is the longstanding Principal oboist of the Eugene Opera Orchestra, Oregon Mozart players, Eugene Concert Choir Orchestra, and second oboist of the Eugene Symphony Orchestra. Her playing has been described by the Eugene Register Guard as “thrilling” “tender” and“ doleful.”
Some of Cheryl’s Music festival appearances have included Oregon Bach Festival, the Oregon Festival of American Music, Oregon Coast Festival, and the Ernst Bloch festival. She has also performed with other groups such as Amici Chamber Players, Micro Philharmonic and Opera Saratoga.
Doing business as Cascade Oboe Reeds, Cheryl makes reeds for professionals across the United States and abroad. Ms Wefler has published a book on reed adjustment, and travels to universities holding workshops on reed making.
Janet Putnam, OBOE, plays principal oboe in the North Corner Chamber Orchestra, an unconducted orchestra in Seattle, and freelances in the major Seattle/Tacoma area orchestras. She has played solo oboe, English horn, and oboe d’amore as sub/extra with the Seattle Symphony, oboe and English horn in 179 Nutcrackers with the Pacific Northwest Ballet. She solos frequently with Seattle choirs and performs with Zubatto Syndicate, a jazz ensemble.
Marlyn Schram, English Horn, is principal oboist of the San Bernardino Symphony, English hornist with the Redlands Symphony, and former English hornist of the Tucson Symphony. She is a founding member of 3D Reeds, a double reed trio whose repertoire has primarily been written by esteemed composers specifically for them.
Ms. Schram has appeared with several major orchestras in the US, and has been presented as a soloist in China, Korea, Europe and across the USA. She is a founding member and serves on the advisory board for Music 360 Arts Council, based in Orange County California.
Ms. Schram, also a licensed Speech-Language pathologist, is in private practice providing voice rehabilitation and care to singers and others using their voice occupationally; neurologic rehabilitation using an innovative life participation approach, and accent reduction to professionals who speak English as a second language.
Kathryn Gleasman Pisaro, English Horn, is active as an oboist and a music historian. As a music historian, she received her Masters and PhD degrees in musicology at Northwestern University, with a dissertation on experimental music in Britain in the 1960s. She regularly presents papers at national and international conferences and has written entries for such prestigious publications as the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. As an oboist, she has performed with hundreds of artists and ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Fresno Philharmonic, Andrea Bocelli, the Moody Blues, Ray Charles, and Garth Brooks. She has played in dozens of touring Broadway productions, including Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon.
She has made recordings of solo contemporary music for oboe, recorded with jazz ensembles in Chicago and LA, and is on the album Pomegranate and Great White Light with the rock band Poi Dog Pondering. She has toured Europe six times as a new music soloist. She has played concertos with orchestras throughout the United States and Europe. She is currently on the faculty at California Institute of the Arts and California State University, Northridge.
Jonathan Stehney, bassoon, expertise ranges from performing Renaissance music on period instruments to performing the most challenging contemporary and experimental music. He has traveled widely performing new works for bassoon and contrabassoon. Jonathan has worked with such notable composers as Sofia Gubaidulina, Pierre Boulez, Péter Eötvös, Olga Neuwirth, James Tenney, Mark Menzies, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and others. He has studied with Pascal Gallois, Paul Riveaux, and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, as well as Julie Feves, Stephen Paulson, and Frank Morelli. Dr. Stehney received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Bassoon Performance from CalArts, his Master of Music and Performance Certificate from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from SUNY Stonybrook. He is currently a free- lance musician in the greater Southern California region, and frequently is in recording sessions for John Williams, Jeff Russo, John Debney, Kris Bowers, and numerous others. Jonathan can be seen with numerous orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Long Beach Symphony, Redlands Symphony, San Diego Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony, assorted chamber ensembles, as well as doubling in musical pit orchestras. He is currently on faculty at Calarts, and Cal State San Bernardino, and the Redlands Conservatory of Music. In addition to performing, Jonathan also arranges and orchestrates for chamber ensembles and pit orchestras.
Isabel Jeremias, a Costa Rican Bassoonist, is a soloist and chamber musician, having performed concerts in Central America, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Spain, Belgian, Switzerland, Japan and the United States. She’s a member of Syntagma Musicum (baroque bassoon), founder and director of the Phoenix Bassoon Quartet.
Isabel has served as jury in bassoon competitions such as: Primer concurso para Jóvenes Fagotistas in Peru, Yamaha Festival in Colombia, Young Artist Competition in bassoon IDRS 2009 in Birmingham, England, III Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Gillette -Fox IDRS 2010.
Isabel is the Chair of the IDRS Young Artist Competition for bassoon since 2017.
She studied at the University of Costa Rica, Karlsruhe in Germany and the University of Kansas, with a Fulbright scholarship.
Isabel did an specialization in “New Sounds” at the Würzburg Musikhochschule with a DAAD scholarship and in baroque bassoon with at the ESMUC in Barcelona, Spain.
Charles Fernandez, is an Awarded-winning, Emmie and Annie nominated composer, orchestrator, bassoonist, educator and conductor Hailing from New Orleans, he’s lived in Los Angeles since 1983.
Companies he’s written music for include Disney, Universal, Dreamworks, Amblin, MGM, JUMBO and for shows such as Bonkers Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Casper, 101 Dalmations, Toonsylvania, Robot Chicken Doug and Mixed Nutz. He’s worked on countless trailers, including several James Bond Trailers including Casino Royale and Spectre.
As an educator, he teaches at UCLA Extension, The Los Angeles High School of the Arts and through Thinkspace (Based in England).
His concert works and arrangements can be found on Youtube and range from Symphonic, to Concert Band to Concerto to Chamber.
