THE WEST SIDE WOODWIND QUINTET

THE MUSICIANS

• Renée Oakford (flute) - Renée holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes Col- lege of Music. She has studied with Judith Mendenhall, Michael Parloff and Trudy Kane, among oth- ers. She has participated in master classes by Julius Baker, Robert Dick, Thomas Nyfinger, and Jeanne Baxstresser. Renée performs regularly in New York with the Broadway Bach Ensemble. She is a past member of the Amato Opera Company, Amore Opera Company, The Riverside Orchestra, New Amsterdam Orchestra and The Eastern Winds. Renee has appeared as a soloist with the Broadway Bach Ensemble, the Goldman Memorial Band and the LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts Orchestra. Renée currently works for Steinway & Sons, editing recordings for the Spirio piano. (a high-resolution player piano). 

• Eliot Friedman (oboe) – Eliot began his oboe studies in 7th grade with Jerome Roth of the New York Philharmonic. He participated in a chamber music summer workshop in Ein Kerem, Israel in 1973 and traveled with the Long Island Youth Orchestra to the south Pacific in 1974, performing in the Sydney Opera House. He received his MD from the University of Chicago and received his oncology training at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School. He resumed playing in 1995, playing with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles in the New York metropolitan region and performed as a soloist with the Broadway Bach Ensemble The Hudson Valley Wind Symphony and The Pennsylvania Sinfonia. He is a medical oncologist at the Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania. 

• Stephen Loffredo (clarinet) - Stephen studied with Keith Wilson and Michael Borschel at Yale University. Steve has played in concert halls around the world including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Vienna State Opera House.. He has performed with the Vineyard Theater Opera, the Waterloo Music Festival, the Greenwich Village Orchestra, the Broadway Bach Ensemble, the Amber Quintet and the Quintette Chien Noire, among others. Steve received his law degree from Harvard Law School and is currently a Professor of Law at the City University of New York School of Law. He spent the early part of his professional career as a staff attorney in the Civil Division the Legal Aid Society of New York. 

• Liz Dejean (French Horn) - Liz graduated from the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied with Ranier Dentinis. Liz performed with various ensembles in New York while continuing to work in the Juilliard school library for many years. She earned her degree in library science from St. John’s University through a Laura Bush scholarship in 2010. She recently retired after a long career as the school librarian at PS 360 in the Bronx. Liz began actively playing again in 2010 and plays with a number of different orchestras and chamber music groups throughout New York City and Westchester County 

• Kukiko Mitani (bassoon) – Kukiko studied bassoon at the Tokyo University of Art and Music. After graduating, she spent time playing with the NHK symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. Kukiko also had a successful career as a studio musician prior to immigrating to the United States. Upon arriving in the USA, she studied with Barnard Garfield, then principal bassoonist in the Philadelphia Orchestra. She moved to Birmingham, Alabama and played with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She ultimately moved to New York and after a long hiatus, returned to playing in 2011 and currently is play- ing with various chamber groups and orchestras throughout the New York Metropolitan area. Kukiko is an avid ping-pong player and holds weekly classes teaching the Japanese tea ceremony in her New York City apartment.