Meet our Double Reed Fest Clinicians

William Buchman joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1992 after two seasons with the Dallas Symphony. He was appointed assistant principal bassoon in 1996 and has served as acting principal on multiple occasions, including all overseas tours between 2007 and 2014. In 2008 he performed and toured as guest principal bassoon with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Bill has played chamber music with pianists Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Yefim Bronfman and Emanuel Ax; performed and toured with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Pro Musica, and the Chicago Symphony Winds; and plays regularly with Music of the Baroque. He was a soloist at the 1998 Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center and first appeared as soloist with the CSO in 2002; he has performed as a soloist on multiple occasions with Music of the Baroque and DePaul University ensembles. He also has appeared at the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival in Maryland, the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming and the Saint Bart’s Music Festival in the Caribbean. He was awarded first prize in the 1990 Gillet Competition of the International Double Reed Society and has performed at several IDRS conferences since then.

A native of Canton, Ohio, Bill earned a bachelor of science degree in physics magna cum laude from Brown University in 1987. With the support of a DAAD fellowship, he continued his physics studies the following year at the Universität Fridericiana Karlsruhe in Germany. On returning to the United States, Bill studied bassoon performance at the Yale University School of Music with Arthur Weisberg and at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music with Norman Herzberg. 

A member of the DePaul University School of Music faculty since 1998, Bill also coaches the bassoon section of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and has presented master classes throughout the United States and in Brazil, China, Canada and Germany. He lives with his husband Lee Lichamer in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood.

Critically acclaimed American oboist Dr. Lisa Kozenko has performed worldwide as a concerto soloist, chamber artist, and orchestral musician. She has 18 solo oboe and chamber music commissions to her credit. Her solo recording of Doubles by Judith Zaimont was named to Chamber Music America’s Century List of recordings.

Ms. Kozenko was the principal oboist of the New York City Opera National Company and has performed with the New York Philharmonic and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has served on the Bowdoin International Music Festival faculty and as an adjudicator for the 2017 Carnegie Hall New York China Orchestra and the 70th & 72nd Hong Kong Music Festival.

As a member of the Manhattan Wind Quintet, she was a finalist in the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation Chamber Music Competition and prizewinner of the Coleman, Fischoff, Monterey, Yellow Springs, and Chamber Music Chicago competitions. She was a solo prize winner of the 15th Lousie D. McMahon International Music Competition and presented her New York solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall under the auspices of Artist International.

Dr. Kozenko is Professor of Performance Practice (Oboe) at Ball State University and former Assistant Professor of Oboe and Chamber Music at Mannes School of Music at the New School College of the Performing Arts. Dr. Kozenko is a Loreé performing artist.

Originally from Naperville, Illinois, oboist Nora Anderson Lewis is Associate Professor of Music and Associate Dean of the Faculty at Lawrence University and Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. She enjoys a varied performance career and has played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW series, with Alarm Will Sound, Boston Lyric Opera, and International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). She was a founding member of Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente and held orchestral positions with the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra and the Plymouth Philharmonic. She has performed in recital at St. Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, London, on the Cranbrook Music Guild artist series, Hale Library concert series, and in live recital broadcasts on Blue Lake Public Radio, WMUK Kalamazoo’s “In Concert,” and “Live from Studio B” at WFMT in Chicago.

Nora has presented workshops, performances, and papers at national and international conferences including the Midwest Clinic, International Double Reed Society, College Music Society, ClarinetFest, and National Flute Association in locations such as Finland, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and throughout the United States. With clarinetist Philip O. Pagialonga and bassoonist Eric Van der Veer Varner, Nora was a founding member of the PEN Trio, a chamber ensemble passionate about performance, education, and scholarship. For ten years the ensemble commissioned, premiered, published, and promoted numerous new works and gave concerts and master classes throughout the world. Their album Found Objects: New Music for Reed Trio was released on Summit Records and features music expressly written for the ensemble. Nora is currently under contract with Oxford University Press to write the book, Notes for Oboists: A Guide to the Repertoire, part of the Notes for Performers series.
Nora is a graduate of Lawrence’s acclaimed double-degree program in oboe performance and philosophy and received her Master of Music degree from the Yale University School of Music and Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. She lives in Appleton, Wisconsin with her husband Keith and enjoys spending time with their two standard poodles Cleo and Ziggy and Siberian forest cat, Alexey. Nora loves to spend time outdoors and recently walked more than 500 miles along the Camino de Santiago from Lisbon, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

An active performer and award-winning soloist, Brigit Fitzgerald Pacher is an artist determined to positively impact students, audiences, and collaborators with her art. She is delighted to carry out this mission as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Lawrence University and Conservatory. Brigit advocates for new music as a member of two contemporary chamber groups: Density512 and the SoundMap Ensemble. She has won the opportunity to be featured as a soloist with the Phoenix Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, and Vanderbilt University Orchestra. As well as being a semifinalist in the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition (2023), she has recently placed first in the National Bassoon Meetup Artistry Competition (2021), the Young Texas Artist Music Competition (2022), and the First International Bassoon Tango Competition (2022).

Using her degree in mathematics and minor in scientific computing, Brigit’s research includes work with two engineers and a chemist to develop a partially synthetic reed that is both affordable and long-lasting. This interdisciplinary team co-founded Fermata Reeds Inc., a company focused on increasing accessibility to music by minimizing economic barriers to learning reed instruments.

Brigit is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (BM) and the University of Texas at Austin (DMA and MM), where she worked as the bassoon teaching assistant for four years. She enriches her musical life with two-stepping, painting, and curling. She is from Phoenix, Arizona, and she hopes to one day own a herd of alpaca.

Longtime Chicago area freelance bassoonist Dianne Ryan is currently principal bassoon of New Philharmonic Orchestra, Elmhurst Symphony, Whiting Park Festival Orchestra, and Bach Cantata Vespers. She has performed with many midwestern symphonies, such as Peoria, Southwest Michigan, Northwest Indiana, Rockford, Illinois Symphony, and many more. In addition, Ms. Ryan has performed with pop artists such as The Beach Boys, Moody Blues, Ray Charles, Celtic Woman, Final Fantasy, and Mel Torme. She has toured Europe and Asia with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and Chicago Symphonic Pops, and has been a featured soloist with New Philharmonic Orchestra and Elmhurst Symphony. She also enjoys playing in chamber ensembles, especially Chicago Bassoon Quartet.

An avid bassoon instructor, Ms. Ryan is on the faculties of Elmhurst University, Harper College, Vandercook College of Music, and Concordia University Chicago. She frequently adjudicates concerto competitions, solo contests, and ILMEA auditions and has given many clinics for hosts that include Midwest Young Artists Conservatory, Chicago Youth Orchestra, Butler Bassoon Day, Roanoke (VA) Youth Orchestra, and Bands of America.

Ms. Ryan earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in bassoon from Virginia Tech and Roosevelt University, followed by orchestral training with the Chicago Civic Orchestra.