DFW DOUBLE REED ALL STATE INTENSIVE

Welcome to the inaugural DFW Double Reed All-State Intensive! The event will be held on Sunday, November 2 from 1:00 pm-5:00 pm and is free to attend. Top oboe and bassoon faculty from DFW are excited to come together to provide an afternoon of masterclasses and mock audition over the TMEA All-State etudes. Registration is available for oboe, english horn (or oboe/EH), and bassoon. Contrabassoon students- please reach out to Professor Massenburg if you are interested in attending.
Students will participate in masterclasses over all three etudes, and the day will conclude with a mock audition. This audition will include written feedback from all of the faculty and give students the chance to get a feel for the All-Region audition experience.

DFW Double Reed All-State Intensive Schedule

12:30 Check-in begins
1:00 Etude #1 Masterclass

1:30 Etude #2 Masterclass
2:00 Etude #3 Masterclass
2:00-2:15 Break
3:00 Mock Audition Begins
*We anticipate the mock audition should be finished by 5:00 pm. Students should have a way to communicate with their rides in case the audition ends earlier or later.

Schedule is subject to change

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact, Prof. Melissa Bosma at melissa.bosma@uta.edu or Prof. Leslie Massenburg at lesliebasson@gmail.com.

Click Here to Register for DFW DRASI

PARKING INFORMATION

If you plan to park your vehicle on campus you must follow these instructions:

Here are the steps for guests to register for parking:

1. Follow the link http://www.uta.edu/mavpark

2. Select "Purchase Event Permit"

3. Select "Department-Hosted Event”

4. Select "DFW Double Reed All-State Intensive”

5. Enter voucher code: MAVUP

6. Select permit type "(EVT-COMP) Fac/Staff Surface Lots”

7. Select the active date

8. Add vehicle info and confirm

Set your navigation for the intersection of Nedderman Drive and Cooper Street in Arlington, TX. From Cooper Street, turn west onto Nedderman Drive. If you are coming from the north/I-30, you will turn right onto Nedderman. If you are coming from the south/I-20, you will turn left. Follow the road around the corner to find parking lot F6 and F8 on your left. Once parked, walk north on Nedderman Drive until you reach a four-way stop at Greek Row Drive. Turn right/east onto Greek Row Drive and walk past the circle drive. Enter the fine arts building through the sliding doors on your right, just before reaching the concrete stairs.

If there is a train blocking Cooper Street, please make your way to West Street, where there is a bridge that allows you to pass under the train tracks.

UTA Double Reed Day Parking Map - 2025.jpg

ABOUT OUR FACULTY

Oboist Melissa Bosma is the Adjunct Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Texas at Arlington. She also currently serves as the Secretary of the International Double Reed Society. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Bosma served as Lecturer of Oboe at Oklahoma State University, where she also served as Director of the OSU Summer Music Camp. She also served as Adjunct Instructor of Oboe at Heidelberg University, where she performed with the faculty woodwind quintet, regularly performed at the New Music Festival, and commissioned new solo works for oboe and piano.

Ms. Bosma has taught extensively in Texas, Michigan, and Oklahoma through her studio and master classes at many local middle and high schools. She currently maintains a private studio in Carroll ISD, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, and Northwest ISD. Passionate about sharing oboe pedagogy with other educators, Ms. Bosma has given presentations at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention and the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference. Ms. Bosma is an active orchestral musician who has performed with groups such as the Fort Worth Opera, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Michigan Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, Tulsa Symphony, and Oklahoma City Philharmonic. Also an accomplished chamber musician, Ms. Bosma attended the Sarasota Music Festival and was a Fellow at Music Academy of the West where she was a featured soloist under the baton of Grammy-nominated conductor Nicholas McGegan.

Melissa Bosma graduated with Master of Music degrees in both Oboe Performance and Chamber Music from the University of Michigan. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree in Oboe Performance from Southern Methodist University. Her primary teachers include Erin Hannigan and Nancy Ambrose King.

Oboist Jung Choi, a native of South Korea, has quickly established a career of both performing and teaching. She was honorably mentioned twice as the finalist for the Gillet-Fox International Oboe Competition and started teaching and giving master classes at a collegiate level.

Having made her concerto debut at the age of 16, Choi has since appeared as soloist with the Seoul Yego Orchestra, SNU Wind Ensemble, Buchoen Youth Philharmonic, Seoul Youth Philharmonic, Seoul Chamber Orchestra and Eastman Philharmonia. She also has appeared internationally as a chamber and orchestral musician in Germany, France, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan.

While she was working on her master’s degree at the Eastman School of Music, Choi was appointed as oboe/English horn player at the Binghamton Philharmonic. She taught at Nazareth College and Roberts Wesleyen College in Rochester, NY as well. Upon graduation from Eastman where she was appointed assistant principal for the Korean Symphony Orchestra and gave up to 90 concerts annually. Choi also taught oboe at Seoul National University, her alma mater. As a devoted teacher her students won major music competitions in Korea, were invited to compete in oboe competitions such as the Muri Competition and Prague Spring Competition, and were invited to Pacific Music Festival, American Institute of Musical Studies, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Interlochen Summer Arts Camp.

Choi is an avid chamber musician and a member of wind ensemble Winds, the Piri oboe ensemble and a woodwind quintet, Sunyul. She was invited as principal oboist of Daegwanryoung Music Festival, Incheon and Arts Festival and Malaysia Festival Orchestra. Apart from classical music, Choi’s interest lies in other genres of music as well. She has recorded music for movies, musicals, and K-pop songs. She also performed the oboe on a Korean national television show collaborating with a poet.

Choi’s principal teachers include Richard Killmer, Yun Jung Lee, Myung Jin Lee, Soo Keum Kim and Jong Duk Kim. She comes to UNT from Missouri State University.

Elise Belk, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, received a Bachelor of music from Louisiana State University as a student of Linda Strommen. She continued her studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of John Mack, earning a Master of Music degree in 2004. Mrs. Belk held the position of 2nd oboe/English horn with the professional chamber orchestra, CityMusic Cleveland, from 2005-2012. Since moving to Fort Worth, she performs on oboe and English horn regularly with ensembles across DFW, and frequently performs with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Before joining the TCU family, Mrs. Belk served as the Instructor of Oboe, and of music appreciation at Texas Wesleyan University. She has also taught private oboe and reed-making lessons in Fort Worth for the last 11 years and has enjoyed seeing the success of her students in their band and orchestra programs in high school and college, with some even entering the professional music scene.

In addition to performing and teaching, Mrs. Belk founded Wildflower Reeds in 2017, which provides handmade oboe and English horn reeds to oboists across the country and world.

Bassoonist Leslie Massenburg is one of the most sought-after bassoonists and contrabassoonists in the DFW area. She has frequently played and toured with the Dallas and Ft. Worth Symphonies and most recently played much of the season with the Dallas Opera Orchestra. She is principal bassoon of the Dallas Chamber Symphony, Plano Symphony, and Irving Symphonies. She is second bassoon with the Richardson Symphony, and contrabassoonist with the Dallas Winds and East Texas Symphony. She can be heard on several recording projects, including several of the Dallas Winds’ Grammy-nominated albums, live Dallas Symphony and Ft. Worth Symphony recordings, The Banner Saga soundtrack, and a recording of Appalachian Spring by the Dallas Chamber Symphony.

In addition to a full orchestral schedule, she performs outreach concerts with the Texas Winds, is frequently requested for presentations to school children ahead of their field trips to see the symphony, and enjoys accompanying her students on the piano for their solo contests and recitals. She carries a large private studio of bassoon students in the metroplex and beyond, and has enjoyed watching the successes of current and former students, including many full scholarship awards to prestigious music schools around the country.

Leslie graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music degree in Bassoon Performance and minor in Piano Pedagogy, where she studied with Jeff McCray and Dr. Matthew Morris. She continued her bassoon studies at Southern Methodist University and earned a Master’s degree in Music Performance, while teaching music appreciation classes for SMU undergraduates. Here, she was a student of Wilfred Roberts, retired principal of 50 years with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Lesliespent many years at the Aspen Music Festival and School where she studied with Per Hannevold, (Bergen Philharmonic, Norway).

Bassoonist Dr. Darrel Hale joined the UNT College of Music in August of 2021 as the associate professor of bassoon. A native of Denver, Colorado, he is Principal Bassoon of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. Prior to his position at UNT, he was a member of the faculty at Louisiana State University. He served as acting principal bassoon of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra under Lucas Richmond. An active orchestral performer, he has also served as the principal bassoonist of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra and Springfield Symphony Orchestra and has performed with several other orchestras including the Fort Worth Symphony, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Dayton Philharmonic, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Gulf Port Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, Meridian Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony and Cincinnati Symphony Chamber Players. As a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, Hale performed as a member of the Aspen Academy of Conducting Orchestra under Maestro David Zinman and for three summers as the second bassoon in the Aspen Festival Orchestra alongside Per Hannevold. he comes to the University of North Texas from Louisiana State University where he was an associate professor.

A dedicated teacher, Hale has presented masterclasses in a variety of venues including the International Double Reed Society Conference in 2019, Meg Quigley Symposium Pre-College Camp in 2021, Hot Springs Festival, Midwest Musical Imports Master Class Series, and at many universities and conservatories throughout the United States including the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Texas Austin, Baylor University, Ohio State University, Unversity of Kentucky, University of Southern Mississippi and University of Georgia Athens. During the 2020 Covid pandemic, Hale worked with colleagues Ann Shoemaker (Baylor) and Yoon Joo Hwang (UCF) to create a series of online master classes that virtually connected students from around the globe with major international professional bassoonists for a series of masterclasses. Dr. Hale also currently serves as a co-editor with Amy Pollard (UGA) of the IDRS Online Fingering Chart Project and as a Competition Committee member of the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition.

As an active advocate for the expansion of the bassoon repertoire, Darrel Hale has commissioned several new works for bassoon and voice with his duo partner, mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen. These new works include Ahead of All Parting (2019) by Jenni Brandon, Aurora (2019) by Hannah Rice, White Ash (2019) by Mara Gibson, Washing Water Buffalo in the Ocean (2019) by Gregory Brown, and Millary Songs (2020) by Dana Kaufman. Hale has also been a consortium member on works by Drew Baker, Jenni Brandon, and Nico Muhly. In May 2021, Darrel Hale premiered a new concerto for bassoon and orchestra written for him by Mara Gibson entitled Escher Keys.

As a recitalist, Darrel Hale has performed at several International Double Reed Society Conferences including those held in Spain and Tokyo, Japan as well as at the Meg Quigley Symposiums in 2019 and 2021 and International Clarinet Association Conferences in 2014 and 2016. As a soloist, Hale has appeared with the ensembles at Louisiana State University performing the Mozart Concerto in Bb Major, K. 191, Weber’s Andante and Hungarian Rondo, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Concerto. In January 2020, Hale appeared with his colleagues in the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra to perform the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with BRSO under the direction of Maestro Timothy Muffitt.

Darrel Hale received a bachelor of music degree in bassoon performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder where he studied with Yoshiyuki Ishikawa. He continued his training at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio where he completed his DMA while studying with the late William Winstead. His other teachers include Per Hannevold, Martin James, and Chad Cognata.

Event Coordinator and Bassoonist Kendal Bolton Wohler is a freelance music and arts administration consultant in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and holds a Bachelor of Music in Business from the University of Texas-Arlington. She served as the Executive Director (2021-2022) and principal bassoonist of the Mansfield Philharmonic Orchestra (2020-2022). Mrs. Bolton Wohler specializes in digital organization, a skill that she honed during her internship with the Round Top Festival Institute, where she was instrumental in transitioning their organization and alumni systems to a fully digital process. She has also served as the Event Coordinator for the UT-Arlington Double Reed Day since 2017, and was the founding and long-running president of the Maverick Bassoon Club, an organization devoted to sponsoring high quality and low-cost educational activities for junior high, high school, and UT-Arlington bassoonists through the UT-Arlington Double Reed Day, All-State Intensive, and guest artist recitals and masterclasses.

In addition to her freelance administrative work, Mrs. Bolton Wohler volunteered as a consultant for the Maverick Bassoon Club, where she enjoyed sharing her knowledge of fundraising techniques, administrative processes, and leadership experience. She enjoys devoting her time to arts administration projects and mentorship of all kinds, and is passionate about creating musical experiences that are positive, inclusive, and illuminating for all.

During her time at the University of Texas at Arlington, Mrs. Bolton Wohler was often recognized for her academic, musical, and administrative skills. She received the College of Liberal Arts AcCOLAde Dean’s Award, was an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Project Fellow, made the Dean’s List, and served as Chamber Music Student Liaison. In addition to her academic accomplishments, she was selected to appear on multiple Honors Recitals, performed two solo recitals, performed at the College Band Directors National Association Conference, performed at the International Double Reed Society in 2019, and performed with the top performing ensembles at UTA. Her bassoon studies were with Dr. Laura Bennett Cameron, and she has performed in masterclasses for Wilfred Roberts, Kevin Hall, Dr. Fernando Zúñiga, Victor Dutot, the late Dr. Eric Varner, and others.