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Victoria Racz, B.M., M.M., was the principal oboist, featured soloist, and General Manager of the Oregon Chamber Players for the complete existence of the ensemble (1995-2014). She played principal oboe and was a soloist twice with the Newport Symphony (from 1995 – 2011), and has played oboe and English horn with Columbia Symphony, American Metropole Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, 45th Parallel, and principal oboe with other groups in the region, including the Oregon Chorale, ISing Choir, Portland Phoenix Choirs, Portland Choir & Orchestra, and Vancouver Master Chorale, where she has also been a concerto soloist twice. She is principal oboist with the Portland Festival Symphony, Opera in the Park, and is also the oboist with the Con Grazia Wind Quintet, the OCP Quartet, Sirens Trio, Double Reed Divas, and Trio Adrato. She has performed with a diverse range of artists including performers such as Jane Siberry, Roberta Flack, Martha Reeves, Kurt Elling, and Jessye Norman. In August of 2020 she won the one-year principal oboe position with Orchestra Nova Northwest (formerly the Portland Columbia Symphony) for their 2020-’21 Season while their regular principal took a sabbatical. She was the Acting Principal oboist for Orchestra Nova Northwest's 2023 Season, and in January 2024 she auditioned and won the Principal Oboe position.
She is the Co-founder, General Manager and primary wind coach for the Junior Symphony of Vancouver, and is in demand throughout the Northwest as a teacher and adjudicator. She has written program notes and/or presented concert talks with organizations such as the Oregon Chamber Players, Junior Symphony of Vancouver, Portland’s Columbia Symphony, and Newport Symphony. From 1993 to 2000 she was the oboe professor at Marylhurst University in Oregon, and she was hired as oboe professor at Clark College, Washington, in 2022.
Several compositions have been written or arranged specifically for her by such composers/musicians as Dr. Matt Doran, Norman Leyden, Ray Pizzi, Jean Chatillon, and Timoteus Racz.
Kathy Stockwell-Riemann, B.M., Artist Diploma., studied with renowned oboists and teachers Dan Stolper (Michigan State University), and Sara Lambert Bloom & Robert Bloom (Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Artist Diploma Program) among others. She ran her own successful reed company out of Seattle, and has been the Reed Clinician and Assistant of the Northwest Oboe Seminar since 2001. Kathy was on leave for several years and we are always excited when it works in her schedule for her to spend the weekend with us!
She and Victoria met at Gail Warnaar's Double Reed Camp at Hope College in Michigan, where both Kathy and Victoria attended for many years.
She is now running her very successful skin care company, Bluffside Apothecary.
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Seattle based oboist Brent Hages, received his formal training at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Temple University, studying with James B. Caldwell, Alfred Genovese and Louis Rosenblatt.
Brent performs with most of the professional orchestras in the Pacific Northwest, including appearances with Mimi Hines, Idina Menzel, Il Divo, Celtic Woman, Andrea Bocelli, Johnny Mathis, and Evanescence. Past national tours of Wicked, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Porgy and Bess. He regularly records with the Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra for movie and television scores- the most recent release of The Lumber Baron; video games (Diablo III, Destiny, Planetary Annihilation, World of Warcraft series) and with the Seattle Film Institute.
Formerly affiliated with Central Washington University, Cornish College of the Arts, and Seattle Pacific University as Adjunct Instructor of Oboe.
Aside from performing, he spends his time with his Whippet dogs, collecting vintage recordings, and has collected and restored the instruments of his former teachers that were used throughout their careers.
Photo by Richard Kolbell
We are thrilled that Colleen Adent will be joining us again at the Northwest Oboe Seminar!
Colleen’s formal musical training began at the age of four, after the discovery that she had perfect pitch and the ability to play by ear. She received a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Biola University, where she was twice named Outstanding Pianist of the Year. She has studied with: Harold Gray, Artistic Director Emeritus of Portland Piano International, Lina Baranov of Moscow Conservatory and Cathy Kautsky of Lawrence University.
Colleen has performed with Sapporo Philharmonic Orchestra, Professional Christian Wind Ensemble and the Newport Symphony, under the direction of Norman Leyden. She has also appeared as a guest soloist with Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Newport Symphony, Jewish Symphony Orchestra, and with the Westwood Wind Quintet. Colleen has enjoyed collaborating with internationally known artists such as classical saxophonist Harvey Pittel, Robert Hale of the New York Metropolitan Opera and Julie Davies of Staatstheater Darmstadof. She has performed at the Interharmony Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy as well as with the Arianna String Quartet as part of the Chamber Music Now Series. She has enjoyed performing with local chamber groups, including Trio Adrato (Victoria Racz, oboe/oboe d’Amore/English horn; Dale Tolliver, cello), Vancouver Piano Trio (Tatiana Kolchanova, violin; Barbara Johnston, cello), and Collage (with Dennis Plies, marimba). She was a regularly featured soloist on Ten Grands shows with Michael Allen Harrison. In June of 2016, Colleen was invited to compete in the Van Cliburn International Amateur Competition and advanced to the quarter finals. She currently serves as collaborative pianist with Vancouver Master Chorale and is the Assistant Director of Worship at Glenwood Community Church, both in Vancouver, WA.
As an arranger, Colleen draws from a lifetime of experience as a skilled and artful improviser. Her arrangements have been commissioned by leading international vocal artists such as John and Mary Giger, Robert Hale, William Harness, and Janice Johnson and Jill Timmons. Her output also includes a number of popular choral arrangements and a collection of hymn arrangements, all published by Fred Bock. Co. She has written numerous commissioned piano duets as well as two-piano, eight-hand arrangements. Her holiday piano duets have been featured on All Classical 89.9’s Thursdays @ Three, performed together with Kristy Moore.
Colleen is the Founder and Director of Lifesong Piano Studio in Vancouver, Washington. She offers a rigorous and comprehensive curriculum with the course of study being tailored to the individual student. Whether exploring a musical experience as a K-12 student or an adult recreational player, Colleen provides inspiration and expertise to every student. Her passionate commitment to music education backed with her longstanding experience as a nationally recognized performing artist helps to sculpt her studio curriculum and foster the joy of music making.
Kahayla Rapolla (she/her) is an American bassoonist currently based in Portland, Oregon. As an orchestral musician, she has performed with ensembles such as the Eugene Opera, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Faroe Islands Symphony Orchestra, and the Copenhagen Philharmonic. Kahayla has also worked with conductors such as Krystof Penderecki, Thomas Søndergård, Sarah Ioannides, and Carl St. Clair.
Kahayla’s accolades include receiving first prize for the First Culture and Arts Festival held by the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars of Denmark. She was also a finalist in the American Virtuoso International Music Competition. Other accolades include first prize for the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Woodwind Concerto Competition, which led to her solo performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto in B-Flat Major, KV. 191 with the IU Symphony Orchestra.
Other noteworthy performances include “Carl Nielsen og Fløjten”, a 3-day tour in Denmark performing Carl Nielsen’s Flute Concerto with soloist Marianne Thomsen Clement. Kahayla was also part of an art installation by Los Angeles-based artist Frances Stark, who created a pedagogical version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute featured in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Kahayla earned her BM as a Jacobs Scholar from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She also received her MM while studying in Copenhagen, Denmark at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. Her previous teachers include Sebastian Stevensson, Audun Halvorsen, William Ludwig, Sara Goya, and Paul Curtis.
Kahayla’s travels throughout the US and Europe led her to the Pacific Northwest, where she now maintains a private studio and reed making business, in addition to freelancing in the surrounding area. Outside of performing and teaching, she enjoys cooking, making coffee, and exploring Oregon.
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Nick Thompson, Tip Top Woodwinds
Seminar Repair Technician for 2026!
Originally from Saint Louis, Missouri, Nick's early oboe career developed in South Florida where he pursued his undergraduate work with Robert Weiner at the University of Miami and graduate work with Jared Hauser at Lynn Conservatory. While studying at Lynn, Nick's oboe teacher won the professorship at Vanderbilt University, and Nick was fortunate enough to continue his studies with Joseph Robinson, former principal oboist with the New York Philharmonic, finishing his Professional Performance Certificate and Master's Degree.
Nick freelanced and taught oboe in South Florida for over 15 years to much local acclaim. There, he also met his wife, Isabel, and their daughter, Helen, was born. Growing weary of the freelance life, Nick began to do some soul searching and was looking for a change. Amid that same time frame, through Jared’s recommendation, Nick met Jason Onks, owner and technician at Onks Woodwind Specialists in Smyrna, Tennessee. Always a tinkerer, Nick was able to show his potential as a repair person and the Thompsons quickly decided to move to Tennessee for Nick to start a new career in repair when Helen was just one year old.
Especially thankful for all of his oboe teachers, Nick's cumulative experiences in oboe went hand-in-hand with his position at Onks Woodwind Specialists where he worked for over 5 years. Nick learned the repair trade in a different than normal circumstance, where most of the focus specialized in oboe, and most servicing of the instruments were either highly comprehensive or complete mechanical overhauls. Jason's business model of encouraging fully comprehensive work is one of the reasons why Nick decided to apprentice with him. Other reasons include the Onks shop working exclusively with Hannah Selznick, “The Oboe Fairy” as well as an ongoing collaboration with Laubin. Very few shops had Paul Laubin's approval, and as a Laubin player, learning to properly set up Laubin oboes was especially rewarding.
While working at Onks as a full time repair specialist, Nick has continually strived to include teaching and performing as much as possible into his schedule, teaching oboe at the University of the South in Sewanee for three years and performing with local ensembles, including the Knoxville and Huntsville Symphony Orchestras, Nashville Repertory Theater and the Nashville Opera. Nick also started a reed business, “Tip Top Reeds," where he sold reeds for a few years and enjoyed helping oboists from that standpoint. He has since rebranded his reed business name and focuses mainly on repair work.
Nick is extremely grateful to his mentor, Jason Onks, but Tennessee was not meant to be for the Thompsons. In Fall of 2022, they decided to relocate to Portland, Oregon and start a-new once again. During the cross-country planning period, Nick subsequently found a local audition opening for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA in Washington and is proud to be an Assistant Principal core member. He also subs regularly with other high-level ensembles such as the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. An experienced performer, reed maker, teacher and repairer, Nick truly is well rounded as an oboe specialist and is here to help advise and supply his services to you for any of your oboe needs.
Established in 1984, Mark Chudnow Woodwinds has been a leading innovator in the design and development of double reed products since its inception. Mark started as a repairman in 1980 and is one of only a handful of Americans trained at the F. Lorée factory in France! He brought to the business an understanding and creativity not formerly found in the field. Mark quickly brought to fruition some of the many ideas he had developed in his years of talking and listening to musicians' complaints involving instruments and accessories.
Among the innovative improvements are the CA and the Sierra line of staples. The CAs are the first line of staples to be consistent, seamless and chamfered. Mark's English Horn and Oboe d'amore bocals are also noteworthy. Each one is constructed with a "tenon cork" at the tip, insuring greater airtightness and security than any other bocal on the market. Extremely popular among reedmakers throughout the world are the precision MCW hollow ground knives.
On a whimsical note, Mark's introduction of colorful swabs has brightened the otherwise black or brown world of double reed accessories.
In 1990, the Sierra oboe was introduced as a natural extension of Mark's skills and interest. Debuting in 1991, the MCW Oboe represents Mark's endeavor to provide an oboe of professional quality at an affordable price. Designed for the intermediate to advanced level student, the MCW oboe truly represents handcrafted excellence for the serious student. Mark's first presentation at the Northwest Oboe Seminar was in 2000 with his topic, Secrets of Oboe Making!
MCW has been a Seminar sponsor since 1995 and has been our repair tech for the past several years, though he is on a Seminar Sabbatical for 2026!
Guest Bassoonist for our Large Ensembles!
Bassoonist Ian Schneiderman is currently serving as Acting Associate Principal/2nd Bassoon of The Phoenix Symphony. He is also Principal Bassoon of the Peoria (IL) Symphony Orchestra, Second Bassoon of Orchestra Iowa and the McCall (ID) Music Festival, Third Bassoon/Contrabassoon of the Britt Festival Orchestra and was previously a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He has also appeared with the Chicago, Seattle, Milwaukee and Syracuse Symphony Orchestras, the Rochester and Boise Philhamonics, the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and regional orchestras across the country. Ian has spent his summers performing at the Ravinia, Lucerne, Britt, Spoleto, McCall, Colorado College, Chautauqua and Brevard music festivals. A dedicated teacher, Ian has taught young bassoonists of the Seattle Youth Symphony, Cascade Youth Symphony, Marrowstone Music Festival, the University of Rochester and at numerous Chicago public schools through the Civic Mentors program. Ian holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (where he served as a bassoon teaching assistant) and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and has had the privilege of studying with Francine Peterson, William Ludwig and George Sakakeeny.
Retired bassoonist, Ann - sometimes a guest in our large ensembles!
Ann Crandall began her bassoon career at age 12 in 7th grade band. Band, and then orchestra, was so much fun, she stayed with the bassoon in spite of reed and repair woes. After high school there was a B.A. and a B.Mus. at University of Washington, a seven year stint in Tucson Symphony, Arizona Opera, and the faculty of University of Arizona, then off to graduate school at SUNY Stony Brook. As a student of Arthur Weisberg, Ms. Crandall earned master's and doctorate degrees and won the Sunwood Performance Award.
Since moving to Vancouver, WA, Ms. Crandall has served on the faculties of Clark College, Willamette University and Portland State University, and has been a busy freelancer performing with all the major metro area ensembles while maintaining a private studio of bassoon students.
She was Principal Bassoon with Portland Opera and Portland Festival Symphony for many years, and continues to perform throughout the region, coaching double reeds at the Junior Symphony of Vancouver, and subbing with the Vancouver Master Chorale Orchestra.
She has been assisting with the Northwest Oboe Seminar since 2010 and retired in 2023! THANK YOU, Ann!! She is invited to return and play in our large ensembles anytime she wishes.
