Discussion Panel

William Buchman joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1992, after two seasons with the Dallas Symphony. In 1996, he was appointed to the position of assistant principal bassoon. He served as acting principal between November 1996 and August 1997 and for the CSO's 2003-04 season, as well as on the recently-ended CSO tour of Europe.

Bill has performed and toured with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Pro Musica and the Chicago Symphony Winds, has played chamber music with pianists Daniel Barenboim and Christoph Eschenbach, and appears regularly with Music of the Baroque. He made his debut as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony in February 2002, and was a soloist at the 1998 Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. Bill has appeared at the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival in Maryland, the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming and the St. 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.

Bill is from Canton, Ohio, and earned a bachelor of science degree in physics magna cum laude with Honors 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. Upon 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 School of Music with Norman Herzberg, before winning a position in Dallas, where he was also on the faculty of the Meadows School at Southern Methodist University.

A member of the DePaul University School of Music faculty, Bill also coaches the bassoon section of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and has presented master classes in Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Indiana, Brazil and China. He lives with his partner Lee Lichamer in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood, and is an avid bridge player and bread baker.

Ann Drinan, Senior Editor, has been a member of the Hartford Symphony viola section for over 30 years. She is a former Chair of the Orchestra Committee, former member of the HSO Board, and has served on many HSO committees. She is also the Executive Director of CONCORA (CT Choral Artists), a professional chorus based in Hartford and New Britain, founded by Artistic Director Richard Coffey. Ann was a member of the Advisory Board of the Symphony Orchestra Institute (SOI), and was the HSO ROPA delegate for 14 years, serving as both Vice President and President of ROPA. In addition to playing the viola and running CONCORA, Ann is a professional writer and editor, and has worked as a consultant and technical writer for software companies in a wide variety of industries for over 3 decades. (She worked for the Yale Computer Science Department in the late 70s, and thus has been on the Internet, then called the DARPAnet, since 1977!) She is married to Algis Kaupas, a sound recordist, and lives a block from Long Island Sound in Branford CT. Together they create websites for musicians: shortbeachwebdesign.com.

Ann holds a BA in Music from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and an MA in International Relations from Yale University.

Read Ann Drinan's blog here. web.esm.rochester.edu/poly/author/ann-drinan

Karen Schnackenberg has been Chief Librarian of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 1990. Prior to that she was orchestra librarian and violinist with the New Orleans Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, Oklahoma Symphony, and Chamber Orchestra of Oklahoma City. She holds degrees in Music Education/Violin (Bachelors) and Violin Performance (Masters, emphasis in Baroque Performance Practice and Music Theory), with honors, from the University of Oklahoma. She also studied at the Aspen Music Festival and the Meadowmount School of Music. From 1987-1999 she was the classical music columnist for the International Musician, the industry’s trade paper for professional musicians. Karen is Vice President of the Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association (MOLA), a professional association of over 225 orchestras, bands, opera and ballet companies worldwide, and will begin her term as President at that organization’s first European conference in Zürich in April, 2006. Karen also currently serves on the Executive Board of the Dallas/Fort Worth local of the American Federation of Musicians and, in her spare time, is a free-lance violinist, an avid reader, an amateur photographer, and a hiker.

Marcia Farabee has served as the National Symphony Orchestra’s head librarian since 1986. She is a graduate of the Capital University Conservatory of Music in violin performance and music education. Prior to her library career, she taught strings for the Fairfax County (VA) public schools and played with the National Ballet, the Richmond Symphony, the NSO, and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Her professional performance experience includes symphony, ballet, opera, and musical theater. She currently serves as President of MOLA (Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association) and chair of the MOLA-Publisher Relations Committee. Marcia is married to a stage technician and has two adult daughters, one fabulous granddaughter, and three cats! She enjoys baking, gardening, sewing, and working with the Senior High youth at her church.

Karen Schnackenberg has been Chief Librarian of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 1990. Prior to that she was orchestra librarian and violinist with the New Orleans Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, Oklahoma Symphony, and Chamber Orchestra of Oklahoma City. She holds degrees in Music Education/Violin (Bachelors) and Violin Performance (Masters, emphasis in Baroque Performance Practice and Music Theory), with honors, from the University of Oklahoma. She also studied at the Aspen Music Festival and the Meadowmount School of Music. From 1987-1999 she was the classical music columnist for the International Musician, the industry’s trade paper for professional musicians. Karen is Vice President of the Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association (MOLA), a professional association of over 225 orchestras, bands, opera and ballet companies worldwide, and will begin her term as President at that organization’s first European conference in Zürich in April, 2006. Karen also currently serves on the Executive Board of the Dallas/Fort Worth local of the American Federation of Musicians and, in her spare time, is a free-lance violinist, an avid reader, an amateur photographer, and a hiker.