Woodwinds

Patricia De Andres

Flute

She started her musical studies in the professional Conservatory “Arturo Soria” in Madrid, Spain, being graduated with the Award of Extraordinary Skill and Excellence. After that, she continued studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, Spain with Professor Manuel Guerrero obtaining her master´s degree in 2012.

Patricia has attended masterclasses with well-renowned flutists such as Antonio Arias and Miguel Ángel Angulo (National Orchestra of Spain), Aurèle Nicolet (Berlin Philharmonic), & Stefán R. Höskuldsson (MET Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra), among others. As an orchestra and chamber music performer, she was awarded the Acordes Caja Madrid Award in 2008 and the 1st Prize in the First Section of the International Music Competition “Ciudad de Valencia” in 2010.

She has performed as a soloist in the National Music Hall of Spain and as an orchestra player in the Music Palace of Valencia as well as the most important music halls in Spain. In the United States, Patricia has performed at Boston Symphony Hall, Faneuil Hall, Keefe Center for the Arts, Sanders Theater, Jordan Hall, Pinckman Hall, and the Umbrella Center for the Performing Arts among others.

She is the principal flutist with the DuBois Symphony Orchestra, plays regularly with Kendall Square Symphony Orchestra, and has been invited to perform with the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, Winchendon Winds, Symphony New Hampshire, the Apollo Ensemble of Boston, Worcester County Symphony Orchestra, Firebird Pops and SNHU Symphony Orchestra.

Patricia has also a bachelor's degree in History of Art and a postgraduate diploma in Curation of Heritage from the Autonoma University of Madrid. She has worked for Arista Flutes as an office manager, brand ambassador, and flute maker, making professional-level handmade flutes and head joints in silver, gold, and platinum. She also worked for Powell Flutes as a key stringer until August 2021 when she started working for Wm. S. Haynes as a flute maker, an activity that she combines with performing and teaching. 

Sarah Harney

Clarinet

Sarah is an elementary band and music teacher in Westborough, MA. She has a dual degree in Music Education and Clarinet Performance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has taught private woodwind lessons in various school districts around Massachusetts and has worked to prepare students for district and college auditions. As a performer, Ms. Harney plays in various musical pit orchestras as well as with the North Worcester County Symphony Orchestra. 

Deborah Hencke

Oboe

Deborah received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Houston and a Master of Music, earned at age 60,  from the University of Lowell.  For more than 30 years she served as a full-time public school music educator, as a middle school band director in LaMarque, Texas, and subsequently in the Methuen Public School District of Massachusetts for nine years.  After pausing to raise her three children, she continued teaching, spending the bulk of her career with the North Middlesex Regional School District in Townsend, Massachusetts before her recent retirement.

She has been an oboist with the Nashua Chamber Orchestra under David Feltner for a number of years. As an oboist, she is also a member of the Winchendon Winds, the Leominster Colonial Band, the Fitchburg Military Band, the Ashby Concert Band, and the Townsend Military Band.  Deborah greatly enjoys freelance work and playing sub with various local orchestras.  In her spare time, she is an avid vegetable and flower gardener.

Doug Miller

Bassoon

Doug is a retired music educator who retired in 2021 after a 39-year career in public Music Education.  He has been an active freelance musician in the greater Central MA area for many years.  Doug is a woodwind specialist, but his primary instrument is bassoon.  One of his favorite retirement activities is performing in a symphony orchestra. 

Nicole O'Toole

Flute

Nicole O'Toole has been teaching music in Massachusetts since the early 90s and playing flute for over 40 years. She holds a degree in music education from UMass Amherst and a Master's in Flute Performance from UMass Lowell having studied with Doug Worthen. Nicole teaches beginning band in her hometown of Bedford, Massachusetts, where she also serves as the K-12 Program Director of Performing Arts. Nicole performs with the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, the Flute Orchestra of Groton Hill, the North Worcester County Symphony Orchestra, and the Firebird Pops Orchestra. Her arrangements for the flute choir include the entire Mozart Clarinet Concerto and the first movement of Cimarosa’s Concerto for Two Flutes. These can be heard on the YouTube channel of the Flute Orchestra of Groton Hill. Nicole’s other interests include photography, yoga, and hiking mountains with her husband Tom, and two sons

Maria Ramey

Flute

Maria is a freelance flutist, flute teacher, and board-certified music therapist in private practice as founder/director of Ramey Music. She holds principal flute positions in the North Worcester County Symphony Orchestra, the New England Film Orchestra, and the Firebird Pops Orchestra; and piccolo in the Boston Civic Symphony Orchestra. She plays regularly throughout New England with multiple orchestras on stage and in the pit and has often performed live on both radio and television as well as recording in the studio. She has been the featured concerto soloist in orchestral concerts on both piccolo and flute and can be heard on various CDs, including as an alto flute soloist with the Song of the Angels Flute Orchestra.

Maria has a special interest in low flutes and performs often at National Flute Conventions and in other settings on contrabass flute including with the Harmonie Transverse Flute Choir, the Metropolitan Flute Orchestra, and the Thayer Flute Choir which she also directs. She also enjoys playing a multitude of specialty and ethnic flutes for the film music she often performs.  Maria holds a Master’s degree in Music Therapy from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Therapy with an additional emphasis in music performance from California State

Ashley Sheldon

Clarinet

Ashley has been a member of the NWCSO since 2022. She grew up in Upstate New York and started playing clarinet at age eleven. She attended Syracuse University where she earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Music Education with Performance Honors. 

Ashley currently teaches middle school music in Littleton, Massachusetts, and is the music director for the middle school drama club. Outside of her teaching career, she has performed in pits for various musicals. When she is not teaching or performing, she enjoys spending time with her husband and family, reading, taking walks, riding bicycles, cooking, and baking. 

Shannon Williams

Clarinet

Shannon is a contemporary clarinetist living in Jamaica Plain. She received her bachelor's degree in Music Education at Shenandoah University and her master's degree in Contemporary Classical Music Performance at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Shannon currently works at Berklee as the Department Coordinator for Harmony/Jazz Composition. When she's not doing admin work, watching horror movies, or playing the clarinet, you can find Shannon teaching music lessons, walking dogs, and playing Skyrim.

Alyssa Wojdag

Oboe

Alyssa received her B.A. in Music & M.A.T. in Music Education from Rhode Island College. She currently teaches full-time for the Nashoba Regional School District in Stow, Massachusetts. She also has over 8 years of experience teaching private woodwind lessons and playing in pit orchestras around Massachusetts.