When the International Double Reed Society (IDRS) brings its 2006 conference to the Ball State campus July 25-29, it will be a first for both host and guests. With more than 1,200 oboe and bassoon players, instrument manufacturers and enthusiasts expected, the conference is the largest event hosted by the College of Fine Arts.

In contrast, Ball State is the smallest venue that has hosted the conference, said Keith Sweger, professor of music and conference cohost along with Timothy Clinch, assistant professor of music.

The campus' relatively small size is a definite positive according to Sweger. The 2005 conference in Austin, Texas, had venues spread out over more than a mile, he said. The Ball State campus keeps all the conference activities within a few blocks.

"The campus is fantastic for this conference," Sweger said. "Many of the events will be focused in the new Music Instruction Building. But right across the street we have Emens Auditorium and down the hill we have Pruis Hall. We have all these great performance venues in very close proximity."

Additional space in use during the conference will include the Student Center, where exhibits from a variety of vendors will be on display, and Teachers College, where master classes will be held using distance education technology.

The conference will include concerts, recitals, master classes and workshops presented by leading double reed artists and teachers from around the world. Previous conferences have been held in Melbourne, Australia; Alberta, Canada; and Buenos Aires, Argentina; as well as locations around the United States.

Sweger said he was approached in 2002 about the possibility of Ball State hosting the conference when the IDRS was looking for a Midwestern United States location for the 2006 conference.

"It was partly based on location and partly based on Ball State's reputation," he said.

Those tentative first inquiries were made more concrete when the new Music Instruction Building was approved, Sweger said.

"Once that happened, we had the quality performance venues we needed, and that was just the icing on the cake," he said.

In addition to state-of-the-art music facilities, the availability of other types of advanced technology is being utilized during the conference. Sweger said there will be master classes featuring instrument repair and reed-making transmitted to conference participants via Internet 2. Those in attendance will be able to view the techniques of master craftsmen up close through magnification and large-screen projection — an exciting combination of age-old artistry and cutting-edge technology.

"This is something you couldn't see even if the craftsmen were here presenting these techniques in person," he said. "The technology is something extra in that sense."

Sweger has worked with the Muncie Visitors Bureau, setting up more than 500 rooms in Muncie and the surrounding area for conference participants. Others attending will stay on campus, most in Noyer complex and others in Studebaker West.

There are a wide variety of people who attend the conference, including faculty, professionals, students and avocational players, Sweger said.

"We have a strong group of people who just love to play bassoon and oboe. I do it for a living, so I just don't get it," he said with a laugh.

In addition to the more professionally-oriented daytime sessions and workshops, there will be free concerts open to the public each evening at 7:30 in Emens Auditorium. The concerts will feature visiting professional artists in chamber music and as soloists with orchestra.  

"We've been fortunate to have some anonymous donors step forward to help underwrite the evening concerts and so, with their help and the generosity of the IDRS, we are able to offer these incredible concerts to the public," Sweger said.  

Performers will include Stefano Canuti, professor at the Conservatorio di Musica in Mantova, Caracas, and Visiting Tutor at the Royal North College in Manchester; William Buchman, assistant principal bassoon of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and former member of the Dallas Symphony; soloist and conductor Alexander Klein, who will begin teaching in the fall at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music; and Frank Rosenwein, principal oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra.

For more information on the conference, visit the conference Web site at www.idrs2006.org or contact Sweger or Clinch at 285-5511.