OUR TEAM
PROF STEPHEN KEY
Stephen Key is an Oboist, Composer, Arranger, and Pedagogue in the Washington DC Metro area. A member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Professor Key began his studies on piano and voice with his mother when he was only three. He landed on studying the oboe in the public school band program in Ada, Ok. Like many young oboists, at 11 he didn’t want to play an instrument that everyone else was playing. Ever since his first solo performance at the Kennedy Center at the age of 14, he has performed throughout the United States, Russia, and Europe as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player.
Mostly an oboist, Stephen is the Principal Oboe for the New Orchestra of Washington, and is currently adjunct Associate Professor of Oboe at Shenandoah Conservatory. In addition to concerto performances with NOW, Key arranged and performed Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin about which New York critic, Oberon’s Grove, said, “gorgeous performance… terrific, notable solos… rich, warm tone.” As a soloist, he has performed with the New Orchestra of Washington, Washington Chamber Orchestra, Washington Master Chorale, University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, and Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. Orchestral work includes regularly performing with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, but he has also played with the National Symphony Orchestra, Austin Symphony (TX), Richmond Symphony (VA), Maryland Symphony, Roanoke Symphony and Opera, The Washington Chorus, Choral Arts Society of Washington, Virginia Opera, the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio, and the New World Symphony. Also, he has recorded with Grammy Award-winning studio Sono Luminus, the Centaur Label, and Albany Records.
Other professional highlights include being the Principal Oboist for the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival since 2023, and joining the performance faculty for the Chamber Music Conference of the East where he holds the Patricia Stenberg Oboe Chair. Additionally, his students from both his private and college studios have been selected for major programs at Eastman, Oberlin, University of Michigan, University of Texas, UMKC, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Duke, among others; as well as major placements in summer festivals and state, regional, and district competitions.
Key studied at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Texas at Austin. He has worked with Rebecca Henderson, James Caldwell, Rudolf Vrbsky, Carol Stephenson, James Moseley, Richard Killmer, Elaine Douvas, and Katherine Needleman.
DR RYAN ROMINE
Bassoonist and educator Ryan D. Romine serves as Associate Professor of Bassoon and Music Theory at Shenandoah Conservatory (Winchester, VA, USA). An in-demand orchestral bassoonist, he regularly performs with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Opera Roanoke, and the Maryland Symphony Orchestra. As a solo performer and avid researcher, he has dedicated himself to a career of presenting rediscovered works to audiences worldwide. His debut solo album of French contest pieces, Première, was hailed as “an absolutely brilliant CD…bringing back from oblivion some truly beautiful music, played with precision and lyricism…” and his rediscovery of Jacques Ibert’s Morceau de lecture for bassoon and piano in 2018 made international news. An active supporter of contemporary composers, Ryan has premiered numerous works—including his own—for audiences worldwide. Stemming from these interests, in 2019 he published Bassoon Reimagined, a comprehensive bassoon extended technique resource designed for both performers and composers. Ryan contributes to the academic side of his profession as only the third bassoon editor in the history of the International Double Reed Society (IDRS). Originally from Newark, OH, Ryan holds his undergraduate degree in music education from The Ohio State University and his MM and DMA in bassoon performance from Michigan State University. His primary teachers include Christopher Weait and Michael Kroth. For more info about Ryan and his musical endeavors, visit www.ryanromine.net.
LAUREL SIBERTS
Laurel Siberts has served as the site manager for the Virginia Bocal Majority Camps since 2011. In 2025, she co-founded the Shenandoah Double Reed Camp in Winchester alongside Ryan Romine and Stephen Key.
Based in Northern Virginia, Laurel is an accomplished performer and dedicated music educator. She is a former member of U.S. Army Bands in Massachusetts, Texas, and Hawaii, and currently performs with the Fredericksburg Symphony, and the Manassas Chorale Orchestra.
Laurel is the assistant band director at Colgan High School's Center for Fine and Performing Arts in Manassas, Virginia. In addition to her teaching duties there, she maintains a thriving private oboe studio and works extensively with school band programs, orchestras, and front ensembles across Northern Virginia.
She holds a Bachelor of Music Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma and a Graduate Certificate in Teaching from George Mason University. Her principal teachers include Dr. Sally Bennett-Faulconer, Ada Saunders, and Meg Owens.
Laurel enjoys playing music (and mini-golf) with her husband Mike. She also loves traveling to visit her daughters Melanie and Julie, and grandson Randy.
DR JESSICA WARREN
Dr. Jessica Warren is an in-demand oboist, performing with ensembles including the National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, Wintergreen Festival Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra, and Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She has joined the United States Air Force Band on two multi-state tours, including as guest principal oboe in Spring 2024. She has been a recurring featured soloist with the Berkshire Bach Society, and was an oboe fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 2017 and 2018.
Dr. Warren will join the faculty at Indiana University as Adjunct Associate Professor of Oboe and English horn in Fall 2025. She also serves as Professorial Lecturer in Music at the Corcoran School of Arts and Design at George Washington University in Washington, DC. She has worked with advanced high school and college oboists at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, New England Conservatory Preparatory School, and at Indiana University.
She is a gouging machine repair specialist for Harvard Double Reeds. Her dissertation, "Significant Learning as Reedmaking Pedagogy," evaluated and reimagined collegiate reedmaking curricula. She also regularly presents lectures and masterclasses in the area of mindfulness in reedmaking and practicing.
Dr. Warren earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Boston University, studying under John Ferrillo. She was a student of Linda Strommen at Indiana University, where she received a Performer Diploma and Master of Music degree, and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Ohio State University, where she studied with Robert Sorton. She currently lives, performs, and teaches in Washington, DC.
LUIS GUTIERREZ
Luis Miguel Gutierrez Miquilena is originally from Venezuela and currently serves as the principal oboe for the Main Street Chamber Orchestra. He specializes in oboe and English horn, and works as a freelance musician and private oboe teacher in the DC and Loudoun County area. He is a dedicated music clinician for Loudoun County Public Schools, and regularly performs with the New Orchestra of Washington, Alexandria Symphony, and the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra.
Luis owns ReadyReeds, selling ready to play oboe reeds, and also offers private reed-making lessons. In Venezuela, Luis held principal oboe positions in a number of professional orchestras. He earned his Master’s degree in Music Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and his Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from Shenandoah Conservatory studying with Dr. Mark Ostoich, Dwight Perry, and Prof. Stephen Key.
In his personal life, Luis enjoys traveling and getting to know different cultures, especially by exploring their food.
Megan Cassada
Megan Cassada has been teaching private bassoon lessons since 1995. Her students have been chosen for such ensembles as the Loudoun Youth Symphony, Virginia All-State Orchestra, Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts, and the American Philharmonic. Some of her students have pursued advanced degrees in bassoon at schools such as Cleveland Institute of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory, Howard University, Arizona State University, and many more. Many of her former students continue to play bassoon as amateurs because they enjoy the instrument. In the past, Megan has presented at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association conference and at schools across Pennsylvania as a Fox Products representative.
During the summer, Megan taught for many years at the Bocal Majority Double Reed Camp at Shenandoah University, now Shenandoah Double Reed Camp, as well as at the Frederick County Middle School Music Camp. She has also been a guest artist at Loudoun County Double Reed Day and Loudoun Symphony Youth Orchestra Camp, and is one of the founding members of Bassoonapalooza in Pittsburgh, PA. Megan is the Bassoon Specialist at Brambleton Middle School. As a musician, Megan is an active performer and has been a member of the Roanoke Symphony since 1996. She is a substitute with the Maryland Symphony and principal bassoonist with the Charles Washington Symphony. She has also performed with the West Virginia Symphony, Altoona Symphony, Youngstown Symphony, Richmond Symphony and National Symphony, among others. Megan performs regularly at her church.
Megan earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Bassoon Performance at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, studying with bassoonist Dr. David Borst, and a Master of Music degree in Bassoon and Contrabassoon Performance with contrabassoonist Carlton Jones of the Pittsburgh Symphony. She also has studied with Arlen Fast, retired contrabassoonist of the New York Philharmonic.
Currently, Megan is the music teacher for Sycolin Creek Elementary School in Leesburg. She resides in Winchester, with her husband, bassoonist and reed-maker, Scott Cassada, and their two children.
Michelle Rupert
Michelle Rupert fell in love with band when she began playing the saxophone at age ten. She told her parents that one day she was going to be a band director! Ms. Rupert has now been working with young band students for the past 20 years with the same passion for music that she had when she was a young girl.
Mrs. Rupert began her career in Fairfax County in 1996 where she held positions at Herndon High School and Lake Anne Elementary. After taking a break from the classroom to raise her three sons, she returned to FCPS in 2008 where she worked for the next 12 years. Her achievements at Dogwood Elementary school earned her the “Elementary Band Director of the Year” award (2017) from the Fairfax County Band Directors Association. Ms. Rupert’s love for teaching and “music making” brought her to Saunders Middle School in 2020.
Ms. Rupert’s primary instrument is the bassoon. She has enjoyed performing with the Shenandoah Valley Philharmonic, Roanoke Symphony, Rockbridge Symphony, Riverside Wind Symphony, Capital Wind Symphony and Brevard Music Center Orchestra. She has performed under the direction of Keith Lockhart, director of the Boston Pops, toured California with Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse and the New England Symphonic Ensemble and was a regular performer at Carnegie Hall for several years.
Ms. Rupert was the guest conductor for the Prince William County Middle School All District Band in 2007, the Prince William County Eighth Grade All County Band in 2011, was the Assistant Conductor of the Manassas Symphony Orchestra from 2009 – 2012, and has taught at the Bocal Majority Double Reed
Camps in Virginia (now Shenandoah Double Reed Camp) since 2013. Mrs. Rupert served as the Assistant Director of the Marching Band at Battlefield High School from 2015 - 2019 and is currently a woodwind clinician for the Gainesville High School marching band. She also performs with the Manassas Chorale and teaches private bassoon and saxophone lessons.
Ms. Rupert is proud to be a product of Virginia schools. She attended Chantilly High School before receiving a Bachelor of Music in Education degree from James Madison University and a Master of Arts in Conducting degree from George Mason University, under the tutelage of Professor Anthony Maiello.
She resides in Haymarket with her husband, Greg, and their three sons.
Mykia Buford
Mykia Buford is an up and coming oboist and educator studying with Emily Snyder, Solo English Horn of the USAFB, at George Mason University Dewberry School of Music. She has assisted as Camp Intern for Bocal Majority Camps, and is excited to move up to a new role as Coordinator of Camp Activites for the new Shenandoah Double Reed Camp.
Lillian Mathews
Lillian Mathews, a native northern Virginian and Shenandoah Conservatory graduate, is a versatile oboist who has performed across the United States, Europe, and South America. From the stage to your local farmer’s market, Mathews performs orchestral, wind band, operatic, chamber, and new music works. Some of her recent favorites include the commissioning and world premiere of Dianna Link’s Leaky Sink (an oboe trio inspired but Michigan’s native carbon sinks), playing English horn as a soloist on Copland’s Quiet City with the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, and performing as principal oboist in Mahler’s 5th Symphony on tour across Argentina. Mathews has been awarded University of Michigan’s EXCEL Enterprise Grant and was the sole undergraduate recipient of the 2022 Lorraine Pederson Memorial Scholarship for Orchestral Performance. She holds a Bachelor in Music from Shenandoah Conservatory and received her Master of Music from the University of Michigan this past May. Her principal teachers include Prof. Stephen Key and Dr. Nancy Ambrose King.
Genie Britten
Genevieve Britten is a rising sophomore from Manassas, VA currently studying music performance for oboe at the University of Texas at Austin. Britten was a multi-year all-Virginia oboist, as well as member of the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras for three seasons. When not practicing or making reeds, Genie enjoy reading, writing, and wood carving. “I'm so excited to be back at Shenandoah for my fourth time at camp, and my first as an intern.” Genie’s principal teacher’s include Prof. Stephen Key and Dr. Andrew Parker.
Griffin Harrel
Griffin Harrel is a rising sophomore bassoonist at Ithaca College; currently studying Music Education and Performance major. Harrel serves as Assistant Principal Bassoon for the Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra. Griffen’s primary teachers have been William Titus and Christin Schillinger.
Emily Banner
Emily Banner is a Junior studying History and Music at William and Mary College. Banner has been studying the bassoon for eight years, and has had the opportunity to perform some of her favorite pieces, such as Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony and Faure’s Requiem. She attended the formerly named Bocal Majority Camp for many years, and is looking forward to making Shenandoah Double Reed Camp fun for everyone.