Co-Hosts

Dr. Sue Barber, Bassoon

Sue Barber serves as Professor of Bassoon and coordinator of the Woodwind Area at the James Madison University School of Music. During the summer season Dr. Barber serves as a member of the artist/teaching faculty at the Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina. She is an active freelance bassoonist in the region, performing with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Roanoke Symphony, Opera Roanoke, Opera on The James, and the Williamsburg Sinfonia. She has also performed and presented master classes throughout the United States and in Europe and Asia. She has recently served as a visiting professor at The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, teaching applied bassoon and master classes.
As an orchestral musician, Dr. Barber has performed with many of the leading artists of our time including Yo Yo Ma, Luciano Pavoratti, Joshua Bell, Ben Hepner, Midori, and Peter Serkin among others. She has performed at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center.

An active solo and chamber musician, performances include a 2006 recital with the Montpelier Wind Quintet at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, performances at the 1999, 2006, and 2007 International Double Reed Society Conventions in Madison, WI; Austin, TX; and Ithaca, NY; The Virginia Music Educator’s Annual Conference, The 2003 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, I.L., The International Alliance for Women in Music's 11th Annual Concert of Chamber Music by Women at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, and The 2002 and 2009 National Flute Conventions, in Washington, D.C. and New York, N.Y.

Dr. Barber has previously held the position of assistant principal bassoon of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, principal bassoon of the Natchez Opera, and principal bassoon of the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she has also held positions with The Hartford Symphony, The Connecticut Opera, Sarasota Opera, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia (Spain), and the Soni Fidelis Woodwind Quintet. She has appeared with the New Haven Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra, and participated in the National Repertory Orchestra Festival, and the Banff and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals.

Previous teaching positions include the Hartt School of Music Pre-college Program, Trinity College (CT), the New England and New York State Music Camps. She has given master classes in Chicago, Alabama, Mississippi, Kansas, Oregon, Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Dr. Barber earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Bassoon Performance at the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York; a Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School in New York, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Louisiana State University. Her principal teachers include Stephen Maxym, Frank Wangler, and William Ludwig.

Dr. Jeanette Zyko , Oboe

Oboist Jeanette Zyko, praised by Fanfare Magazine and ArtsNash for her “refined playing” and “achingly beautiful lines,” enjoys an active career as a chamber and orchestra musician.
A versatile artist, Dr. Zyko has played music ranging from twentieth-century composer Louis Andriessen to Baroque composer Jan Zelenka, and her performances have taken her across the United States and abroad. As a solo and chamber musician, she has played in New Mexico, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, and New York’s Carnegie Hall, as well as in Canada, France, Costa Rica, and Argentina.
Equally at home as an orchestra musician, Dr. Zyko has performed with the Nashville Symphony, Nashville Opera, Indianapolis Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Gateway Chamber Orchestra, and Paducah Symphony. She can be heard on Summit Records with Gateway Chamber Orchestra, and her performances of Mozart’s Gran Partita with this ensemble have earned her high praise from critics.
Prior to joining the faculty of James Madison University in 2016, Dr. Zyko held positions at Austin Peay State University and the University of Costa Rica. She received her training at the Hartt School of Music and Butler University, and she was the first oboist to receive the Doctor of Music Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers have included Humbert Lucarelli, Malcolm Smith, Georg Meerwein, and Stephen Taylor. Her students have won top positions in state and regional ensembles and have received performance scholarships for undergraduate and graduate programs as well as summer festivals.