Eleanor Duncan Armstrong instructs the flute studio, coaches flute chamber music ensembles, and performs with The Pennsylvania Quintet and the Armstrong Flute and Percussion Duo.
As an orchestral flutist, she has performed with the Aspen Festival Orchestra, the Breckenridge Colorado Institute, and the Oklahoma Symphony. She is currently principal flutist with the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra. With the Pennsylvania Quintet, she has toured extensively in the United States and Europe, including performances at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in New York City, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany. The quintet's compact disc recordings include American Wind Music, 20th Century Wind Chamber Music, and Recent American Works for Winds (Centaur CD label). The quintet has also been featured on National Public Radio's Performance Today and is a past winner of the National Flute Association Chamber Music Competition in Washington, D.C.
With the Armstrong Flute and Percussion Duo, she has presented master classes and recitals throughout the country. The duo is especially active in commissioning new works for the ensemble and has recorded Exotic Chamber Music (Centaur CD label) and Creative Mix (Gasparo). The National Flute Association has featured the Armstrong Duo in invited performances at four national conventions: New York City, Phoenix, Columbus, and Nashville.
Dr. Armstrong holds graduate performance degrees from the Juilliard School and the University of Michigan. She earned her undergraduate degree in flute performance at Oklahoma City University. She was appointed to the Penn State faculty in 1983.
For more on Eleanor Duncan Armstrong's reordings, see The Armstrong Flute and Percussion Duo and The Pennsylvania Quintet
Dr. Naomi Seidman has accepted an appointment as assistant professor of flute at Penn State to begin fall 2012.
An accomplished solo performer, Naomi Seidman, assistant professor of flute, has won the Mid South Flute Competition and the Frank Bowen Young Artist Competition, and was first runner-up in the Myrna Brown Young Artist Competition. She was also a semi-finalist in the Beijing Nicolet International Flute Competition. She has performed as a soloist with the Santa Fe Symphony, Kingsville Symphony, Ballet Austin, and the Texas A&M University at Kingsville Wind Symphony. In May 2010, she was invited to perform in the Festival Cultural de Mayo in Guadalajara, Mexico.
In addition to her frequent performances as a soloist, Naomi is an active orchestral and chamber musician. She has served as second flute in the Victoria Symphony Orchestra and piccolo/third flute in the Corpus Christi Symphony, both in Texas.
In 2011, Naomi performed with the Vienna Piano Trio and the Walden Chamber Players. She has been an active member of the Austin Chamber Players since 2007. Naomi has also participated in numerous festivals, including Yellow Barn, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Austin Classical Guitar Society, and the Austin Chamber Music Center.
Naomi is a founding member of the Rhapsoidos Trio, which includes soprano, flute, and piano. The group was founded in September 2009 with the goal of promoting, discovering, and expanding repertoire for this combination of musicians.
A dedicated educator, Naomi has given master classes at the University of Texas at Austin, Oklahoma State University, Texas A&M University at College Station, University of Texas at Brownsville, and Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She co-founded the Coastal Bend Flute Symposium, an annual event where area flutists of all ages gather to attend a master class and recital given by a renowned flutist. The symposium’s guest artists have included Jill Felber, Kimberly Clarke, and Carol Wincenc.
Naomi received a bachelor of music degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara, master of music degree from Yale University, and doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
She plays on a handmade Powell flute.
Click here for more information about Naomi Seidman and the Penn State Flute studio
Dr. Anthony J. Costa is Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Penn State University and a member of The Pennsylvania Quintet.
Dedicated to his role as artist-teacher, Costa comes to Penn State having taught clarinet and music courses at Otterbein College, Ashland University and the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio. For two years he was a collaborative artist with Chamber Music America’s “Rural Residency Program” working with communities in Mississippi County, Arkansas as a performer and music educator.
In demand as an orchestral clarinetist, Costa has served as utility clarinetist/bass clarinetist with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and Dayton Opera Orchestra since 1999 and is an associate musician with the Columbus (OH) Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he has performed with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Lancaster (OH) Festival Orchestra, Erie Chamber Orchestra and the Wheeling (WVA) Symphony Orchestra.
Committed to mentoring young clarinetists, Costa’s students have participated in such esteemed festivals as Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, the Interlochen Arts Camp, the Brevard Summer Music Festival and the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. His students have been finalists in the International Clarinet Association’s High School Competition, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition and have performed as members of the Columbus and Cleveland Youth Orchestras.
Dr. Costa attended the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and received a bachelor of music degree in music education and clarinet performance. He received his master of music degree in clarinet performance from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and his doctorate of musical arts degree from The Ohio State University. His teachers have included Carmine Campione, Anthony Gigliotti, Ronald Auffman and James Pyne.
Click here to read about Anthony J. Costa's recordings
Click here for more about Anthony J. Costa and the Penn State Clarinet studio
Daryl Durran joined the School of Music faculty in 1983. He teaches bassoon, coaches wind chamber music, and is bassoonist with The Pennsylvania Quintet.
A native of Los Angeles, he holds degrees from the University of Arizona and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Prior to his appointment at Penn State, Durran served as principal bassoonist of the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra and the Waukesha Symphony Orchestra and was a frequent performer with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has taught at the National Music Camp, Interlochen, Michigan and the American Band College, Ashland, Oregon.
Durran performs as principal bassoonist of the Pennsylvania Centre Chamber Orchestra and has been a member of the Festival of Two Worlds Orchestra in Spoleto, Italy and the Britt Festival Orchestra, Jacksonville, OR. For nine seasons he was principal bassoonist of the Music at Penn's Woods Festival Orchestra. As a chamber music player, he has appeared in concert halls throughout the United States and Europe. He is an active member of the International Double Reed Society, regularly offering presentations at the Society's conferences.
Click here for more on Daryl Durran's recordings
Timothy Hurtz teaches oboe, coaches wind chamber music, and serves as oboist with The Pennsylvania Quintet.
Prior to his appointment to the Penn State faculty in 1993, Hurtz served on the faculty at Illinois State University since 1973, where he taught oboe and was a member of the Sonneries Woodwind Quintet. Hurtz has performed with the Chicago Symphony; Los Angeles Philharmonic; the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; the San Francisco Opera and Ballet; the Joffery, Bolshoi, and American Ballet Theater orchestras; the Santa Fe Opera; Mannheim Steamroller; and the Hollywood recording studios. He has given recitals and clinics across the United States, Europe, and Japan. From 1978 to 1981 he was principal oboe with the National Opera of Mexico City and taught at the Mexican National Conservatory of Music. Hurtz was principal oboe with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Chamber Orchestra, and the Peoria Symphony Orchestra for ten years.
Hurtz received his performance degree from the University of Southern California and was a pupil of Donald Muggeridge, William Criss, Robert Bloom, and Ray Still. Recently, he appeared in a recital at the International Double Reed Society in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Hurtz served as performer and clinician at the Moon Beach Festival in Okinawa, Japan, and the Idyllwild Arts Festival in California. He serves as principal oboe of the Music at Penn's Woods Festival Orchestra and the Pennsylvania Centre Chamber Orchestra.
Click here for more on Timothy Hurtz's recordings
David Stambler, associate professor of saxophone, is originally from the Washington, D.C. area. He has established himself as a dynamic teacher and musician throughout the United States, performing both jazz and classical music. Stambler is active as a recital and symphonic soloist, and as "on-call" saxophonist with many orchestras, including the Baltimore Symphony, the Annapolis Symphony, the Bay Atlantic Symphony, the National Gallery Orchestra, and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. He has performed at the JVC Jazz festival, the Princeton Jazz Fest, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Kennedy Center, and has accompanied many of the top entertainers in the world today. Stambler's premieres include November by Elam Sprenkle with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Dos Movimientos by Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez with the Bay Atlantic Symphony, and compositions by John Harbison, Gunther Schuller, and Michael Colgrass through the Worldwide Concurrent Premieres and Commission Fund. He has recorded with the Baltimore Symphony, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and the Capitol Quartet, and can be heard playing clarinet and saxophone on dozens of nationally broadcast radio and television commercials. As tenor saxophonist and arranger with the Capitol Quartet, he performs frequently in recital venues and with symphony orchestras nationwide.
Stambler studied clarinet at the Oberlin Conservatory, and then received his bachelor of music degree in saxophone from The University of Michigan, where he was a student of Donald Sinta. He holds the master of music degree from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore and the Doctor on Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland.
For more on David Stambler:
www.davidstambler.com
www.capitolquartet.com
www.margotmusicfund.org