WOODWIND FACULTY
Woodwinds
Brass
Percussion
Strings
Keyboard
Jazz Studies
Music Education
Musicology
Theory and Composition
Choral, Voice, and Opera
Conducting
Music Technology
Eleanor Duncan Armstrong, flute
Timothy Hurtz, oboe
Smith Toulson, clarinet
Daryl Durran, bassoon
David Stambler, saxophone
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.
Click here to read about Eleanor Armstrong's recordings
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
Smith Toulson teaches studio clarinet and is clarinetist with The Pennsylvania Quintet.
Toulson received his degrees from the University of Illinois and Yale University. He presently serves as principal clarinetist of the Music at Penn's Woods Festival Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Centre Chamber Orchestra, and the Nittany Valley Symphony.
In addition to his appearances with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the New Haven Symphony, he also has appeared in concerts at the National Gallery, Washington, D.C., the Waterloo Festival (N.J.), and New York's 92nd Street YMCA Concert Series. Professor Toulson can be heard on recordings by Crystal and CRI records.
Click here for more on Smith Toulson's recordings
David Stambler, assistant 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 is currently finishing doctoral studies at the University of Maryland.
For more on David Stambler:
www.davidstambler.com
www.capitolquartet.com
www.margotmusicfund.org