Former classmates Leah Forsyth and Staci Spring will present a recital at Northwestern State University Thursday, Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.
Forsyth and Spring will be assisted by Elen Bogacz on piano and narrator David Steele. The program will include compositions by Geoffrey Bush, Jenni Brandon, Robert Hutchinson, J.W. Kalliwoda and George Gershwin with solo works with piano, trios and a bassoon/oboe duo.
Forsyth is an instructor of oboe at Northwestern State and Spring teaches bassoon at Stephen F. Austin State University. Forsyth and Spring attended graduate school together at Florida State University.
Spring joined the faculty of Stephen F. Austin in 2013. In addition to running the bassoon studio, Spring teaches courses in music history and woodwind methods, and performs with the Stone Fort Wind Quintet. A versatile musician, she has performed numerous solo and chamber recitals, and is the principal bassoonist for the Texarkana and Longview symphony orchestras.
Prior to joining the SFA faculty, Spring was an active teacher and freelance musician in the Abilene, Texas, area from 2007-2013. She maintained a private studio of middle school and high school students, taught lessons and music courses at McMurry, Hardin-Simmons, and Abilene Christian universities, co-founded the chamber group Key City Winds, and performed regularly with the Abilene Philharmonic, San Angelo Symphony, and Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra.
Spring is a doctoral candidate at the University of North Texas, where she studied bassoon performance and completed a related field in music education. She holds dual masters degrees in bassoon performance and historical musicology from Florida State. She completed her undergraduate studies at Brevard College.
Forsyth has been a member of NSU’s faculty since 2011. She was oboist with the United States Army Field Band in Washington D.C., from 2007-2011, where she also performed regularly throughout the United States with the Woodwind Ambassadors Quintet. She was solo English horn with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra from 2005-2007.
A native of central Ohio, Forsyth holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music degree from Florida State. She has performed with the Tallahassee Symphony, Charleston (S.C.) Symphony, Ohio Light Opera, Brevard Music Center Orchestra, and the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra. She was also a member of the Favorable Winds Quintet, performing throughout central Ohio from 2005-2007.
Forsyth holds the positions of principal oboe of the Rapides Symphony Orchestra, and second oboe with the Texarkana Symphony. She performs regularly with the Shreveport Symphony as well as other orchestras throughout Louisiana and Texas. Forsyth is a founding member of the Three Reeds Duo with husband and saxophonist Paul Forsyth. Three Reeds performs throughout the world, building a repertoire ranging from baroque and classical transcriptions to contemporary and newly commissioned works. For more information on Leah Forsyth, please visit leahforsythmusic.com.