Site Author and Contact

Site Author   –  Donald L. Oehler

Donald L. Oehler, Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has over four decades of experience in the chamber music setting. As a performer he has been a member of numerous chamber ensembles including over 35 years with the Carolina Wind Quintet. He has appeared as a guest artist with numerous string quartets and in every variation of chamber ensemble settings. As a chamber music coach, Mr. Oehler has participated as a faculty member in multiple international, national and regional festivals, chamber music courses and workshops. Additionally, he is founder of the University Chamber Players on his home campus and founder and artistic director of the Chapel Hill Chamber Music Workshop. As an advocate for chamber music Mr. Oehler has taught the history of music through chamber music, given lectures on listening to music in the 21st century through chamber music, and continually advocates for chamber music in every possible scenario.

To bring this idea to fruition, Mr. Oehler has drawn upon the services of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Music Library and its staff and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library. Diane Steinhaus, Music Librarian for Public Service, has given invaluable advice and direction towards beginning an online research tool. To that end, she introduced the project author to Mr. Peter Shirts, a 2014 Master of Science in Library Science candidate. Mr. Shirts organized a quartet of library science colleagues from Professor Stephanie Haas’ Systems Analysis class from the School of Information and Library Science to begin seeking a solution for building an online research tool. In addition to Mr. Shirts, the working group included Lindsay Conway, Landon Grindheim, and Simon O’Riordan. To implement the project solution Will Owen, Associate University Librarian for Technical Services and Systems, further established and supervised an internship for Mr. Shirts to assist in the building of the site. Kevin Coletta of the UNC-CH Office of Arts & Sciences Information Services (OASIS) provided additional technical support.  Mr. Vincent Novara, Curator for the Special Collections in Performing Arts at the University of Maryland, and his staff offered invaluable assistance in forming the ICA (International Clarinet Association Research Center) browse category.

A project of this sort does not evolve without the assistance and guidance of skilled, professional colleagues who mentor, prod and breathe life into an idea. The site author wishes to profoundly thank the above mentioned and especially Mr. Peter Shirts, who has been not only thoroughly knowledgeable, but wonderfully patient and completely focused on making sure this site is true to the high standards of accuracy and accessibility expected by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.

Contact:  Donald L. Oehler   dloehler (at) email.unc.edu     919-452-5804