Ransom Wilson, flute; Stephen Taylor, oboe; David Shifrin, clarinet; Frank Morelli, bassoon. Wind players receive private lessons and participate in weekly seminars. They are encouraged to acquaint themselves with as broad a repertoire as possible in all fields, including performance of baroque and contemporary music. In addition to solo playing, students are required to play in chamber groups, New Music New Haven, and in the Philharmonia. Large brass and woodwind ensembles are also formed throughout the year. Conducting, score reading, and improvisation are considered important in the student’s development. Students are also encouraged to become acquainted with the technical aspects of other wind and string instruments.
				Frank Morelli, bassoon, studied with Stephen Maxym at the Manhattan and Juilliard schools of music, and holds the distinction of being the first bassoonist to be awarded a doctorate by the Juilliard School. He has appeared as a soloist in New York’s Carnegie Hall on nine occasions, and Mr. Morelli has been heard internationally as a soloist and with chamber and orchestral ensembles. One of the most active bassoonists recording today, he has well over one hundred recordings for major record labels to his credit. His performances and recording of the Mozart bassoon concerto with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra on the DG label met with international critical acclaim, and his recording of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Winds and Orchestra with Orpheus for Nonesuch Records was named Recording of Special Merit by Stereo Review. Mr. Morelli’s recording with Orpheus of music by Stravinsky, Shadow Dances, won a Grammy in 2001. He recently released two solo CDs on MSR Classics: Bassoon Brasileiro and Baroque Fireworks. Mr. Morelli has appeared often with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is principal bassoonist of the New York City Opera Orchestra, Orpheus, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the American Composers Orchestra. He is a member of the acclaimed woodwind quintet Windscape. He is the editor of Stravinsky: Difficult Passages, a collection of excerpts published by Boosey and Hawkes, and has written several transcriptions for bassoon and for woodwind quintet, published by TrevCo. He also serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School, S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook, and the Manhattan School of Music. He has a popular website, www.morellibassoon.com, which includes a “cyber masterclass” where Mr. Morelli shares information about reeds and bassoon playing. Mr. Morelli joined the Yale faculty in 1994.
				Stephen Taylor, oboe, holds the Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III solo oboe chair with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He is also solo oboe with the New York Woodwind Quintet, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble (where he is co-director of chamber music), the American Composers Orchestra, the New England Bach Festival Orchestra, the renowned contemporary music group Speculum Musicae, and plays as co-principal oboe with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He appears regularly as soloist and chamber musician at such major festivals as Spoleto, Caramoor International Music Festival, Aldeburgh, Bravo! Colorado, Music from Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and Schleswig-Holstein. Included among his more than 200 other recordings are  Bach arias with Itzhak Perlman and Kathleen Battle, Bach's Oboe d'amore concerto, as well as premier recordings of the Wolpe Oboe Quartet, Elliott Carter's Oboe Quartet (for which Mr. Taylor received a Grammy Nomination), and works of Andre Previn. Trained at the Juilliard School with teachers Lois Wann and Robert Bloom, Mr. Taylor is a member of its faculty as well and teaches at SUNY Stony Brook and the Manhattan School of Music. The Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University awarded him a performer's grant in 1981. He joined the Yale faculty in 2006.
				David Shifrin, clarinet, has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh, Houston, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Calgary, and Edmonton symphony orchestras, l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the New York Chamber Symphony. Currently music director of Chamber Music Northwest, Mr. Shifrin was awarded an Avery Fisher Career grant in May 1987. He is also the recipient of a Solo Recitalist Fellowship from the NEA. His recording for Delos of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto received a 1987 Record-of-the-Year award from Stereo Review, and he was nominated for a Grammy as Best Classical Soloist with Orchestra for his 1989 recording of the Copland Clarinet Concerto on Angel/EMI. Since 1989, he has been an artist member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and in 1992 he was appointed its Artistic Director.
				Ransom Wilson, flute, studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Juilliard School, before studying with Jean-Pierre Rampal. As soloist he has appeared with the Israel Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, I Solisti Veneti, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, among others. He is an Artist Member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. An active conductor, Mr. Wilson holds posts with Solisti New York, Opera Omaha, the San Francisco Chamber Symphony, and the OK Mozart Festival in Oklahoma. He founded the the Mozart Festival at Sea, and received the Republic of Austria's Award of Merit in Gold for his efforts on behalf of Mozart's music in America. A supporter of contemporary music, he has had works composed for him by Steve Reich, Peter Schickele, Joseph Schwantner, John Harbison, Jean Francaix, Jean-Michel Damase, George Tsontakis, Tania Léon, and Deborah Drattel.