Double Reeds | The Great Lakes Wind Symphony

Wendy Griffin (oboe) is a graduate of Mansfield University with a B.M. in Music Education and a M.A. in Instrumental Conducting. She taught in Glens Falls, NY; Canton, PA and Capitol Heights, MD., before settling in the Corning area. She currently teaches 4-12 instrumental music and theater in Bradford, NY, is the percussion instructor for the Performance Marching Band at Corning High School, the Music director for the musical in Addison and the choir director at First Baptist Church in Painted Post. She enjoys subbing with the Williamsport Symphony and playing for area churches and musicals on the oboe. She lives in Campbell with her husband Eric (Corning High School band director) and her 8 year old Genevieve, 4 year old Liam and 9 month old Lyra.

Whitney White plays second oboe and English horn in the Great Lakes Wind Symphony. Whitney is a student at Mansfield University where she is pursuing degrees in criminal justice and music. She is currently studying oboe with Dr. Susan Laib and plans to graduate in May 2015 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Whitney is from Wellsboro, Pennsylvania and performs in the MU Symphony Orchestra, Concert Wind Ensemble and numerous chamber groups. She is also a member of the “Almost World Famous” Wellsboro Town Band.

Susan Laib, Associate Professor of Music at Commonwealth University-Mansfield, came to the Twin Tiers in 1989 to join the faculty of Mansfield University, where her primary duties are teaching oboe, bassoon, and coaching chamber music. An active performer, Sue also holds the position of principal oboe in both the Williamsport (PA) Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. As a free-lance oboist and double reed clinician, she has performed for numerous organizations throughout Pennsylvania and New York and presented master classes in New Jersey, as well as the Twin Tiers. She performed at the 2007 convention of the International Double Reed Society at Ithaca College, and was an invited soloist at the 1988 IDRS convention at the University of Victoria in Victoria, B.C. Previously, Sue was a member of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and on the faculty of Tennessee Technological University. As a member of Tennessee Tech’s Cumberland Quintet, Sue toured Belgium and Holland in the spring of 1988 and performed in the group’s successful 1986 debut in the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City. Sue holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, University of Colorado, and Florida State University. Her teachers include Robert Sprenkle, Thomas Stacy, David Abosch, Ronald Roseman, Richard Killmer, and she has attended master classes with Barrick Stees, Christopher Weait, John Mack, Joseph Robinson, and at the 2005 Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp. When not teaching or preparing for performances, Sue can be found hiking, biking, or digging in the dirt, the latter a sometimes vain effort to plant natives for the birds, butterflies, and herself to enjoy.

Kayla Furman, originally from Hollidaysburg, PA, is proud to be a founding member of the Great Lakes Wind Symphony, performing as second bassoon/contrabassoon player. She graduated from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s degree in music education. She is currently living in Williamsport, PA where she has a private woodwind studio and plays with various ensembles in the area while working at Robert M. Sides Family Music Stores.