Bassoonist & Director Nancy Bondurant

Dr. Nancy Bondurant is a conductor, composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist. She holds degrees from the University of Washington (DMA); Temple University (Philadelphia) (BM & MM); and N.C. School of Arts (HS Diploma). Dr. Bondurant's teachers include Philadelphia Orchestra members Bernard Garfield (bassoon, chamber music), Maury Panitz (flute, chamber music), Richard Woodhams (oboe, chamber music), as well as Mark Popkin (NCSA-bassoon), Dr. Madeline Hsu (BSU-piano), Marion Kopesky (NAU-piano), Dr. Diane Thome (UW-composition), Ken Benshoof (UW-composition), Arthur Grossman (UW-bassoon) and Marjorie Barstow (Alexander Technique).

Dr. Bondurant has played with orchestras throughout the United States and Europe including the N.C. Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Puccini Festival Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Asheville Symphony, Greenville Symphony, Delaware Symphony and the Cascade Symphony. In addition to recordings and radio & television appearances, including live PBS and NPR performances, Dr. Bondurant has had an active career as a soloist and was a featured solo recitalist at the 1990 European International Festival in Geneva, Switzerland. She has given solo and chamber music recitals in Europe and the United States and performed with artists such as Nigel Kennedy, Alex Klein, and Carol Wincenc. She is recorded on the SONOS label and is currently working on a CD, IMAGES for bassoon and piano.

Dr. Bondurant has over 20 years private studio teaching experience in the following areas: flute, oboe, bassoon, piano, theory, composition, and Alexander Technique. She is the founder & Director of Woodwind Camp, and founder of VENTI Youth Wind Ensemble of the Northwest. Her former teaching experience includes positions at: Brevard College; University of North Carolina, Charlotte (UNCC); Davidson College; University of Washington; Music Center of the Northwest; Gene Nastri Community School of Arts; Trinity Music Academy; Pinehurst (Sandhills) Community College; Pennsylvania Conservatory of Music; and Neupauer School of Music. Student Honors include students attending All State & All Northwest, performances for the Seattle Symphony's Soundbridge & KING FM's Live by George programs, master class participants, flute soloist with the Hildeman String Orchestra, finalist in Seattle Flute Society competition, students competing at State Solo & Ensemble Contest and students selected for the Music Center of the Northwest Honors Recital.

As a composer, her compositions have been performed in the United States and Europe including a concert at the Seattle Asian Art Museum that featured her music. Her work, Two Movements for Flute and Organ, was premiered at St. Marks Cathedral in Seattle in January of 2004. Dr. Bondurant produces between 30-40 arrangements a year for winds. As a scholar she helped to establish the National Archives for Basque Music in America, and is listed in Who's Who Among International Musicians (2007, 2006), Who's Who Among American Women (2006), and Who's Who Among American Musicians (2006). She participated in the Belgium Archival Project for Wind Music (2006) where she contributed most of the chapter of catalogued repertoire for bassoon music by women composers. As an advocate for new music, Dr. Bondurant has commissioned works for the bassoon and the bassoon in ensembles by composers such as Paul Basler and Anthony Ferrara. She has also premiered numerous works to audiences around the world including the premiere of Joelle Wallch's Organal Voices for bassoon and vibraphone at the 2006 International Double Reed Society Conference.

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Flutist Linda Bailey

Dr. Linda Bailey is flute/piccolo faculty at Music Works Northwest (MWNW) and Bella Musica's Woodwind Camp. In addition to these teaching positions Dr. Linda directs the flute choir at MWNW, is a flute coach with the Bellevue Youth Symphony, beginning flute instructor for the Mercer Island School District, maintains a private studio, and freelances in the Seattle area.

Before coming to the Seattle area Dr. Linda lived in Dallas, Texas where she performed with the Irving Symphony Orchestra, substituted regularly with the Plano Chamber Orchestra and maintained an active studio.

Dr. Linda earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Flute Performance and a Theory Certificate from the University of Washington, a Master of Music from University of North Texas, where she was a Teaching Fellow, and a Bachelor of Music from Portland State University. Dr. Linda's flute teachers include Dr. Mary Karen Clardy, Martha Herby, GeorgeAnne Ries, Dr. Marilyn Shotola, and Felix Skowronek. Two of her most influential flute teachers, from attending and participating in many master classes and lessons, are Keith Underwood and Zart Dombourian-Eby.

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Conductor Brian Fairbanks

Brian Fairbanks is Associate Musician and Chapel Organist at Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral. He directs the Choir School and conducts three of the cathedral's seven choirs. For six seasons (2001-07) he was music director for the award-winning music theatre program at Shorecrest High School in Shoreline. He is the former conductor of Amabile Choir/Northwest Girlchoir, and the Everett and Seattle Junior Symphonies.

He has produced several critically acclaimed recordings for both The Esoterics and The Tudor Choir, earning favorable reviews in such international journals as Fanfare and Gramaphone magazines. He has degrees in music history and conducting from the University of Washington; his music is published by Paraclete Press.

Brian also likes to read children's books; he once very briefly contemplated becoming a children's librarian. His favorite children's authors include-and not in any particular order: Cornelia Funke, J. K. Rowling, Eva Ibbotson, Jonathan Stroud, M. T. Anderson, Jeanne Birdsall, Roald Dahl, Diana Wynne Jones and Daniel Pinkwater.

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Oboist Darlene Franz

San Francisco Bay Area native Dr. Darlene Franz enjoys an active freelance career, appearing as a soloist, chamber music collaborator, and orchestral musician throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. She is a sought-after performer on both modern and historical oboes, and has appeared with Seattle Baroque, Seattle Pro Musica, the Northwest Sinfonietta, Pacific Baroque Orchestra (Vancouver, B. C.), Village Theatre, Tuning the Air, the California Bach Society, and the Jubilate Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco), among many other groups. Her festival credits include the Bellingham, Oregon Coast, WOMAD, Bumbershoot, and Folklife Festivals. She is a frequent soloist in churches throughout the greater Puget Sound region, serves as artistic director of the woodwind trio Tradewinds, and plays and sings with the indie band Sgt Bones.

Darlene is devoted to her oboe students, who frequently earn state-level honors, and play in several local youth orchestras. In addition to being a founding faculty member of Woodwind Camp, Darlene has coached for Cascade Youth Symphony, and is a chamber music coach for Vivace Chamber Players. For the past five years she has been Artist in Residence at West Woodland Elementary School, inspiring third graders to play and love the recorder. As a member of the Philhamonic Wind Quintet, she has introduced the sound of the oboe to over 100,000 elementary school students throughout Western Washington.

Darlene Franz holds a B. A. in music and chemistry from the University of California, Davis, and received her M. M. and D. M. A. degrees from the University of Washington, where she studied with Alex Klein, Rebecca Henderson, and Margriet Tindemans. When she's not playing the oboe or working on reeds, Darlene enjoys gardening, knitting, and serving on the board of the Seattle Circle Guitar School.

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Clarinetist Florie Rothenberg

Dr. Florie Rothenberg enjoys an active performing career, playing with several Seattle area concert and pit orchestras, including the Auburn Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Tacoma Opera. Before settling in Seattle, she was a member of the Tucson Symphony and Arizona Opera. Florie has worked in film scoring in Seattle and been involved in recording projects with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Rainier Chamber Winds, Auburn Symphony, and Gunnar Madsen. She has her own CD, Voices of Trees, Modern Works by Women Composers for Clarinet and Piano, available on Origin Classical Records. Florie has performed in musical theater throughout her career, in Chicago, San Francisco, Tucson, and Seattle.

Splitting her time between performing and teaching, Florie Rothenberg works with clarinetists of all ages and levels, drawing students from around the entire Puget Sound region. Her students participate in each of the area youth symphonies as well as summer festivals and All-State and All-Northwest Bands. Florie has taught a variety of subjects including clarinet, chamber music, music theory, and music fundamentals at the University of Arizona and Hartwick College Summer Music Festival and Institute, and is currently on faculty at Central Washington University, University of Puget Sound Community Music, and Music Works Northwest.

Florie Rothenberg earned a D.M.A. from the University of Arizona, a M.M. from the University of Michigan and a B.M. from the University of the Pacific. Her teachers include Jerry Kirkbride, David Shifrin, and William Dominik.

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