UGA Bassoon and Oboe Symposium

Oboe featured in close up. UGA Double Reed Symposium copy duplicated below.

Register Online 

Join us for the 2027 University of Georgia Double Reed Symposium on Sunday, January 24, 2027!  We will have a wonderful day full of classes, performances, vendors, and more. Our guest artists this year are Jonathan Fischer, principal oboe of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and faculty at the University of Houston; and Elise Wagner, bassoonist in the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and faculty at the University of Houston.

In addition to master classes with our guest artists and resident UGA faculty members, students will also be able to attend reed class or other elective classes, attend the faculty artist recital, and perform with the symposium double reed ensemble. 

We will have a separate master class for beginning students and junior high school students to work on issues unique to starting bassoon and oboe. Students will be able to try out instruments and purchase cane, reeds, instruments, and other accessories from our fantastic double reed vendors.

There will be several spots available for students to play in the guest artist and UGA faculty master classes and receive feedback and performance suggestions. Register early to reserve a spot!

Registration is available online with a credit card. The cost of $75 covers attendance, lunch for participants, and symposium t-shirt. Registration is due by Sunday, January 10th in order to secure lunch and a t-shirt. (Late registration will be accepted, but shirts at that point are not guaranteed.)

All events will be held at the UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the address listed below. Parents are welcome for the day’s events, but we cannot provide food for parents.

Any questions or concerns can be directed to Dr. Messich (oboe) at rmessich@uga.edu or Dr. Pollard (bassoon) at amypollard@uga.edu. We look forward to seeing you in March!

UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music
250 River Road
Athens, GA 30602

 

Symposium Faculty Bios

Amy Pollard is the Professor of Bassoon and Associate Director for Performance at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia. She formerly served as Lecturer of Bassoon at Baylor University and has also been on faculty at the University of Dayton and the Cincinnati School for the Creative and Performing Arts. During the summer she teaches at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival and has been on the faculty of the Interlochen Arts Center Advanced Bassoon Institute, the UGA Study Abroad program in Alessandria, Italy, the Saarburg Music Festival in Saarburg, Germany, and the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival. She has taught master classes at conservatories and universities throughout the United States and internationally as well as serving as a guest artist for numerous double reed festivals and clinics.  

Pollard holds positions as principal bassoon with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and second bassoon with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. She is an active freelance performer and frequently performs with orchestras throughout the Southeast and beyond. Pollard also serves on the administrative board for the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Symposium as part of the Competition Committee. 

Pollard has presented solo recitals at venues across the country and internationally and has performed as a soloist with the University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Wind Symphony as well as with the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Chamber Players. An avid chamber musician, she has performed at venues throughout the country and also in Ireland, Belgium, Argentina, Italy, and Germany, and Thailand with such groups as the Georgia Woodwind Quintet, the Baylor University Woodwind Quintet, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Woodwind Quintet, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Chamber Players. Her bassoon-percussion duo, Col Legno and her bassoon duo, Dueaux, have performed recitals and presented master classes at numerous venues throughout the country. 

Pollard’s debut solo album, Ruminations: Bassoon Works of Eugène Bozza, and the Georgia Woodwind Quintet’s CD Chroma were both released by Mark Records and are available on iTunes.   

Pollard received her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana State University, studying with William Winstead and William Ludwig. 

 

 

Reid Messich is Professor of Oboe at the University of Georgia, where he is a member of the Georgia Woodwind Quintet. He also serves as Co-Principal Oboist of Memphis’s IRIS Orchestra/IRIS Collective, under Maestro Michael Stern, and as Principal Oboist of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, under Maestro John Morris Russell. Each summer, he teaches oboe and woodwind literature at the MasterWorks Music Festival, hosted at Liberty University.

An in-demand performer, Messich maintains an active national and international career. He has appeared as a recitalist and guest artist at the International Double Reed Society on numerous occasions and has presented recitals and lectures at music institutes and universities around the world. Under the direction of Joseph Silverstein, he toured Japan with the Curtis Chamber Symphony, and in 2017, he performed and taught at the Harbin Summer Music Festival in China. He has also served as guest principal oboist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Charleston Symphony, Augusta Symphony, and Greenville Symphony. His students have gone on to hold positions in premier ensembles, including the Cleveland Orchestra, United States Navy Band, United States Coast Guard Band, and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.

Messich’s recordings include Chroma with the Georgia Woodwind Quintet (Mark Masters label), available on iTunes, and Bozza’s Suite brève en trio. In 2016, he gave the world premiere and served as the recording soloist for Christopher Stark’s Velocity Meadows for solo oboe, wind ensemble, and electronics.

Messich earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Richard Woodhams, and both his Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees from Florida State University, studying with Dr. Eric Ohlsson. He performs on a Yamaha YOB-841 oboe. Outside of music, Messich enjoys weightlifting, focusing on physical health, and spending time with his wife, Kaitlin, and daughter, Lowry—especially their trips to Disney.

 

Guest Artist Bios

Headshot of Elise Wagner, bassoonist and symposiumguest artist

A passionate educator, Ms. Wagner has been a faculty member at the University of Houston Moores School of Music since 2011. She also teaches at the Texas Music Festival (TMF) and presents master classes around the country. Most recently at Boston University, the University of Arizona, and the University of Illinois.

Bassoonist Elise Wagner has been a member of the Houston Symphony Orchestra since the fall of 2008. In addition to performing with the Houston Symphony, Wagner will begin her role as second bassoon with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra at the Chautauqua Institute in New York the summer of 2027. She also regularly performs with the Strings Music Festival Orchestra in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She has been a guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony, under the direction of Manfred Honeck, most recently on their summer 2024 European Festivals tour.

A native of Monroe, Wisconsin, Ms. Wagner earned her Masters Degree at Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied with Nancy Goeres, former principal bassoon of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She earned her bachelor's degree at Temple University under the instruction of Daniel Matsukawa, principal bassoon of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Away from the concert hall and university, Elise is an avid athlete. Her love of running, downhill skiing, biking, and golf keeps her busy when not making reeds!

 

Jonathan Fischer, Symposium Guest Artist

Jonathan Fischer joined the Houston Symphony as principal oboe in September 2012 and was invited to join the faculty of the University of Houston in September 2014. Prior to his appointment with the Houston Symphony, Fischer served as associate principal oboe with the San Francisco Symphony for nine seasons. He has also held positions with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Savannah Symphony, and the New World Symphony. Fischer has performed as a guest principal with many of the nation’s leading orchestras including the Boston, Chicago, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the St. Louis and Atlanta Symphonies, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, Grant Park Symphony, New World Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony.

Fischer currently teaches at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music and Texas Music Festival. He has taught and performed at the Aspen Music Festival and the Oberlin Conservatory. He has given masterclasses at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, the San Francisco Conservatory, Rice University, and University of Michigan, and has been a coach at the New World Symphony. He holds a degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Richard Woodhams.

A native of South Carolina, Fischer now enjoys living in the Heights with his dog, a Louisiana Catahoula mix.