Woodwind Teachers
Barbara Boren, flute
Andrea Gross Hixon, oboe, has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician. She has toured extensively with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra with concerts in France, Italy, and the United States, including performances in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City.
Dr. Hixon was principal oboist of the Eastman Wind Ensemble for two consecutive tours to Japan and Taiwan, and played in the summer opera orchestra for the Schlossfestspiele (Castle Festival) in Heidelberg, Germany. She has also toured with the American-Russian Young Artists Orchestra, whose performances included concerts in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York City, the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Smetana Hall in Prague, Czech Republic. She is a past participant in the National Orchestral Institute in College Park, Maryland. Dr. Hixon has also served as principal oboist of the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon, and is currently a member of the Woodstock Mozart Festival orchestra each summer in Woodstock, Illinois.
Dr. Hixon holds doctoral and master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and completed additional studies at the Paris Conservatory. Her oboe teachers include Richard Killmer, David Walter, Marc Fink, Eric Ohlsson, and Daniel Stewart. Dr. Hixon has taught oboe at the University of Memphis, the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, and joined the St. Norbert College music faculty in 2006. She is principal oboist of the Green Bay Symphony and a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Susan Lawrence McCardell, bassoon, received a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in French Literature from Lawrence University, where she studied bassoon with Fred Schroeder and Carl Rath. Her post-graduate work includes summer studies in Quebec, Canada, with Frank Morelli of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at the Orford Arts Centre, and with Stephen Maxym, former principal bassoon of the Metropolitan Opera, at the Domaine Forget Music and Dance Academy. During the summers of 2002 and 2004, Ms. McCardell was an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada, where she studied with Stéphane Lévesque, principal bassoon of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. McCardell has performed with various orchestras in northeastern Wisconsin, including the Fox Valley Symphony, Green Bay Symphony, Oshkosh Symphony, Central Wisconsin Symphony, and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and frequently performs as a soloist and in chamber ensembles.
Since 2000, Ms. McCardell has been a lecturer of music at the Lawrence University Conservatory, where she teaches bassoon techniques to music education majors, and since 2001, she has been teaching private bassoon lessons to middle school and high school students in the Fox Valley and surrounding areas. Ms. McCardell has coached young woodwind players in various chamber ensembles and enjoys teaching musicians of all ages.
Leslie Outland Michelic, oboe, began teaching at the Lawrence Academy of Music in 1987, where she has been graduating students into successful musical pursuits at prestigious colleges and beyond. Mrs. Michelic is also a Lecturer of Music at Lawrence University, teaching oboe for the Woodwind Techniques Course for Music Education Majors.
Mrs. Michelic received her education through UW – Milwaukee and briefly at Lawrence University. Her principal oboe teachers include Guy Dutra-Silviera, Paul Kramer, Howard Niblock, Ray Still, and Martin Woltman. She also studied with Daniel Stolper and participated in the Master Classes of Richard Killmer, Allan Vogel and Richard Woodhams.
Mrs. Michelic has been an active musician in the area, currently playing second oboe and English horn with the Fox Valley Symphony. Previously she has served as principal oboist with the Green Bay Symphony and the Fox Valley Symphony, and as English horn/second oboist with Oshkosh Symphony. Mrs. Michelic has collaborated in chamber music concerts with the faculty of Lawrence University and the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. She has performed in numerous “off-Broadway” productions at the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts in Green Bay. Mrs. Michelic has also been guest oboist with many local churches and choral ensembles. In her early career she served as Utility Oboe and English Horn with the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra.
Mrs. Michelic has a passion to help young people explore the beautiful tone of the oboe and develop their own unique “musical voice” as they advance their skills.
