Chuck Holdeman has been playing and performing with his Buffet French system bassoon since 1976, inspired in part by IDRS founder, the late Gerald Corey. A 1968 graduate of Curtis under Schoenbach, Chuck was able to study the French instrument in France in 1978 with Maurice Allard and Michel Denize. In 1981 Chuck, along with Jerry Corey, Ron Klimko, and Kim Laskowski performed as the North American French Bassoon Quartet at the first IDRS conference outside the US, held in Edinburgh, Scotland. With varied personnel the quartet subsequently performed at many IDRS conferences. Chuck has performed with the Bach Festival Orchestra of Bethlehem, PA since 1969 and is also a member of Philadelphia’s new music octet, Relâche. As a composer Chuck has composed much for the bassoon, as well as an oboe concerto for Richard Woodhams, and an opera “Young Meister Bach” which concerns, among other things, the public brawl involving J. S. Bach and bassoonist Johann Heinrich Geyersbach.
Daryn Zubke joined the faculty at the University of Memphis in 2017 after completing his doctoral degree at the University of Kansas. He has performed with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic. Dr. Zubke studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Juilliard School, and the Manhattan School of Music. His academic research is greatly inspired by a passion for the French bassoon and its history. He has performed recitals and masterclasses on the French bassoon in Spain, France, Mexico, and at universities across the United States.
Dr. Jeff Womack is the bassoon professor at Tennessee Tech University where he also teaches Music History. He serves as principal bassoon of the Bryan Symphony Orchestra and is a member of the Cumberland Quintet. Prior to joining Tennessee Tech, he taught at Angelo State, Dickinson State, and Northern Arizona Universities. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Berea College, a Master of Music Degree from Illinois State, and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Louisiana State University. His primary teachers include Dan Duncan, Michael Dicker, William Ludwig, and Christopher Weait. Dr. Womack has served as principal bassoon of the San Angelo Symphony and contrabassoonist of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. He also performed regularly with the Fort Worth Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, and the Abilene Philharmonic. He has been a clinician and adjudicator for regional and state music contests, and has presented masterclasses at universities throughout the US.
Matthew Banks is a woodwind specialist living and working in Dallas. Primarily a clarinetist, Matthew also performs regularly on oboe, saxophone, and French bassoon. Matthew holds a Masters degree in woodwind performance from Texas A&M University-Commerce, and a B.S. in Music from the University of Evansville. He discovered the French Bassoon in graduate school, fell in love, and switched to it full time in 2020, using it in orchestras, jazz bands, and pit orchestras around Dallas since. Matthew is honored to associate with the finest exponents of this beautiful instrument in North America!
Jo Ann Simpson studied at University of Ottawa, Canada with Gerald Corey (1934-2010), a founder of the IDRS. She also studied with William Waterhouse in the UK, later playing professionally in Caracas, Venezuela. She is a member of the Orchestre Symphonique de Gatineau, faculty member of the Conservatoire de Gatineau and a founder of Virtuosi Productions. She is also a founder and co-director of Brooke Valley Bassoon Days, Canada’s only summer bassoon camp.
James B. Kopp has appeared with The New Jersey Symphony and Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra among others, performing on both modern and historical bassoons. He is the author of The Bassoon, published by Yale University Press, a history of the instrument as well as an assessment of the bassoon today, and he writes articles about the bassoon for various publications and reference books. He holds a Ph.D. in music history and theory from the University of Pennsylvania and studied bassoon with Jesse Read, Dennis Godburn, and Chuck Holdeman. Now a resident of Portland, Oregon, he also maintains a studio constructing and selling reeds for all types of bassoons.
