About Us - OboeMN

Who We Are

ABOUT US

Oboe, Oboe d’amore, English horn

Professional Musician - Member American Federation of Musicians

Cane tubes are directly imported and individually prepared in-house by professional Oboist Don Werdick. Cane processed is farmed in the French southern Var region countryside, from long standing heritage reed cane fields respected as among the very best for generations ... areas of Cogolin, Grimaud, Saint-Tropez, Bormes-les-Mimosas/Le Lavandou, well known for producing superior reed cane.

The Mistral winds - northern winds blowing from the Alps and Cévennes mountain range - along with moisture coming from the Mediterranean Sea, soil composition and the knowledge and skills of the grower, make these canes an excellent choice for double reed players. Recommended for all climates and elevations ... both high altitude and standard cane diameters available.

Biographical Information

Don Werdick is a professional Oboe, Oboe d’amore & English horn artist. Owns and operates the international double reed cane processing business Supérieure Cane Processing^™, www.oboemn.com, since 1960; is an music copyist/engraver and arranger, editor, publisher and member of ASCAP-Chamber Ensemble of Minnesota, Inc. Publishing; member of the American Federation of Musicians-Duluth Musicians Association, Board/Executive Committee Local 18, Twin Cities Musicians Union-Local 30-73; International Double Reed Society; Associated Chamber Music Players; MusicaNeo and IMSLP. He studied with Rhadames Angelucci, Principal Oboe, Minnesota Orchestra; Ita Loe-Vellek, Chicago Symphony; Ruben Haugen, MacPhail Center for Music; and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. Symphony and chamber orchestra performances include the St. Croix Valley Symphony Orchestra and Woodwind Quintet, North Shore Philharmonic Orchestra, Mesabi Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Ensemble of Minnesota, Woodland Chamber Ensemble, Northern Lights Festival Orchestra, Mesabi Musical Theatre Orchestra, Guest Performer-Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra-DSSYO and the Minnesota Opera, and music ministry-liturgical music oboe accompanist & arranger. Prior to 2000, performances in the Twin Cities included the Minnetonka Symphony Orchestra, Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Wind Ensemble, University of Minnesota Orchestra, and Augsburg University Orchestra. Having had a dual career/vocation, he is also a retired financial institution Director & CEO; former FDIC/RTC Assistant Director; past First Federal Minneapolis management; and former U.S. Army Reserve Band Director & commissioned officer. Both business and residences are located on several wooded acres; overlooking the St. Croix River in southwestern Wisconsin, and in northern Minnesota.

Oboe

Sample Selections

Solo performed on a Loree Royal Oboe. Demonstration sample is the oboe solo from Tschaikovsky’s Swan Lake Ballet Suite. Practice session recording. Chamber demonstration sample is from an earlier rehearsal recording of Schubert’s “Octet in F Major (D.72A)”.

Swan Lake Ballet Suite - Peter Tschaikowsky (1840-1893)

The oboe sample performed is from Act 1 of Tschaikowsky’s 1875 Swan Lake Ballet Suite.

Against the sound of harps and strings, the oboe solo plays the music of the swan theme in Act 1. The three act ballet is a story of a prince who seeks and wins the queen of swans who is magically transformed into a beautiful maiden after daylight. She explains to the prince that she has been bewitched by an evil sorcerer’s spell that turns her into a swan during daylight hours unless a man swears his eternal fidelity and love for her.

Throughout the ballet, the challenges the prince and swan queen must overcome in their journey to vanquish the spell are intriguing and in the end the spell is broken.

Octet in F Major - Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

The oboe and chamber ensemble sample performed is from the Allegro movement of Schubert’s 1813 octet.

In August 1813 Schubert occupied himself by working on the Octet in F major for wind instruments; however, it was abandoned before its completion. This was attributed to taking on work composing other symphonic material about the same and completion of the Octet was a matter of secondary importance.

Only two movements of the 1813 Octet in F were ever finished: the minuet and the finale. A first movement Allegro (cataloged as D.72a) is just a fragment, and there is no trace of a slow movement. It is scored for two oboes, two clarinets, two horns, and two bassoons.

English horn

Sample Selections

Solo performed on a Fossati Soliste English horn. Demonstration sample is from a practice session of Rossini’s “William Tell Overture”.

William Tell Overture - Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)

The English horn sample performed is from the second movement of this selection.

This is the last opera Rossini composed at age 36, although he lived to be seventy-six. Up until that time he had written thirty-seven operas, during his remaining years he continued to compose orchestral and some vocal music. This opera premiered in 1829, the composition has been called “a complete symphonic poem in miniature”. The Overture to the William Tell Operain its first section is reflective of a sunrise and mountains depicted by cellos and basses. The second section of this overture depicts a gathering fury of an Alpine storm, and, as it subsides, an Andante comes through with the shepherds’ thanksgiving – the 41 measure the beautiful English horn solo. Eventually, the trumpet announces the approach of Swiss soldiers with the full orchestra finishing with a bright and rapid pace to the end of the overture.

The William Tell Opera is founded on the well-known story of Tell and his endeavors to relieve his countrymen, the Swiss, from Austrian domination. “Tell” was written for the Grand Opera in Paris, where it was first produced in August 1829.

Oboe d’amore

Sample Selections

Solo performed on a Fossati Soliste Oboe d’amore. Demonstration sample was recorded during chamber rehearsal of Bach’s “Concerto in A Major” .

Concerto in A Major - Johann Bach (1685-1750)

The Oboe d’amore sample performed is from the third movementof this selection.

Because of Bach’s busy performing schedule in Leipzig in the 1730’s, he was often rushed and on occasion transcribed some of his violin, oboe, and oboe d’amore concerti into harpsichord concerti. The Concerto in A for harpsichord is based on the original composition started as a concerto for oboe d’amore. Though the manuscript of the harpsichord concerti arrangements survived, the original sources for this did not. Much research took place in later years to reconstruct it to the Concerto in A major for Oboe d’amore, Strings and Baso continuo version.

Studies

Rhadames John Angelucci (1915-1991), Principal Oboe with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra from 1936 to 1980.
1962-1966
Ita Vellek (Loe), Chicago Symphony
1960-1962
Ruben Haugen, MacPhail Center for Music
1955-1959
Graduate-University of Minnesota, business & music, and the Institute of Financial Education

Performing Organizations

1959-1967 Portland Chamber Ensemble, Bloomington Concert Band Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Wind Ensemble, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, University of Minnesota Orchestra, U of M Band, Augsburg College Orchestra, MacPhail Orchestra
1963-1967 Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Wind Ensemble
1967-1976 Chamber and orchestra performing, recording and military service-Bandmaster/USAR
1977-1998 Minnetonka Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Wind Ensemble
1998-2023 Mesabi Symphony Orchestra, Northsore Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Ensemble of Minnesota, Woodland Chamber Ensemble, Mesabi Musical Theatre, Guest Performer-Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra-DSSYO & Minnesota Opera Residency Initiative, AFM-Duluth Musicians Assoc.
2023 to Present: St Croix Valley Symphony Orchestra, SCVSO Quintet, Chamber Ensemble of Minnesota, AFM-Duluth Musicians Assoc. and Twin Cities Musicians Union