Our History
The Midwest Double Reed Society is an active organization stemming from the six-state area of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Iowa. Each year the society sponsors a young artist competition for high school and university students in the six-state area and a double reed festival featuring master classes, recitals, and clinics.
The society was founded in 1983 as the first regional chapter of the International Double Reed Society. The founding members were Marita Abner, Carol Padgham Albrecht, Jean Cantwell, Judith R. Dietz, Harvey Doemland, Beth Fleming, Phyllis Glass, Alan Hawkins, Tamara Heitland, Frank Malewski, Jody Mantarro, Anne Miller, Morton Rader, Pamela Smith, and Susan Copeland Wilson. The members began publishing the newsletter in 1984 and established the Young Artist Competition in 1987. In the years since, the prizes for the Young Artist Competition have expanded in quantity and amount thanks to the fundraising efforts of our members and the generous donations of our sponsors. The annual meeting expanded to a weekend festival in 2002, and the newsletter has shifted its emphasis from general announcements to increasingly scholarly material. In 2008 the society took on its first commissioning project. The works were premiered at the 2008 MDRS Double Reed Festival and performed at the 2009 International Double Reed Society conference in Birmingham, England.
Our Mission
The Midwest Double Reed Society was formed to:
- Enhance the art of double reed playing by encouraging the improvement of instruments, tools, and reed making material;
- Encourage the composing and arranging of music for double reeds;
- Assist teachers and students of double reed instruments to attain high standards of performance;
- Encourage cooperation and an exchange of ideas between the music industry and the Society;
- Give double reed musicians, and all those interested in the problems peculiar to performers, teachers, students, and manufacturers of double reed instruments, a means and body through which communication can be fostered on a Midwest regional basis.
- Receive our newsletter
- Free admission to all our double reed festival classes and concerts
- Reduced rates to participate in our young artist competition
- Keep up to date with all the midwest double reed events