Associate Professor of Bassoon at the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music in Nashville

Called “superb” by the Washington Post and “stunningly virtuosic” by the New York Times, Peter Kolkay is the only bassoonist to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant. In demand as a chamber musician, Kolkay is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and regularly performs at the summer festivals of Menlo, Bridgehampton, and Sarasota. As a soloist, Kolkay has appeared with the Rochester, South Carolina, and Westchester Philharmonics and well as the Albany Symphony, and presented solo recitals throughout the United States, Mexico, and Panama.

Kolkay actively engages with composers in the creation of new works and has premiered solo pieces by Gordon Beeferman, Elliott Carter, Tania León, Harold Meltzer, Reinaldo Moya, Russell Platt, Joan Tower, and Mark-Anthony Turnage, amongst many others. His most recent recording (on Bridge Records) with the Calidore Quartet features contemporary music for bassoon and strings, and he recently recorded the Christopher Rouse Bassoon Concerto with the Albany Symphony.

A dedicated teacher, Kolkay is Associate Professor at the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music in Nashville and has offered performance classes throughout the United States. He was an inaugural recipient of a Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Faculty Fellowship in 2015. His other honors include First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the Carlos Surinach Prize from BMI, and an Individual Artists Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Council. Kolkay holds a bachelor’s degree from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, from which he received the Nathan Pusey Young Alumni Achievement Award; a master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music; and a doctorate from Yale University. His primary teachers include Frank Morelli, John Hunt, Jean Barr, and Monte Perkins. Peter Kolkay plays a Fox 601 bassoon. He is a native of Naperville, Illinois.

Principal Bassoonist of The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Principal Bassoonist Nancy Goeres joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1984. Prior to coming to Pittsburgh, Goeres held similar positions with the Florida Orchestra, the Caracas Philharmonic and the Cincinnati Symphony.

Goeres also serves on the faculties of Carnegie Mellon University and Boston University, and the music festivals of Aspen and Sarasota.

In addition to her appearances with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Nancy Goeres has been a member of the All Star Orchestra, conducted by Gerard Schwartz, which produced a multi-disc set of recordings of major orchestral repertoire. She has also performed at leading festivals around the country including Tanglewood, Marlboro, La Jolla and Mainly Mozart festivals, New York's 92nd Street Y Series, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music in The Vineyards (CA) Philharmonic of the Americas, (Mexico City) Instrumental Verano, (Puebla, Mexico) and the Internationale Wolfegger Konzerte (Germany) Germany. She has also toured with Musicians from Marlboro.

Alan Fletcher's Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra, commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony, was premiered by Goeres and conducted by Manfred Honeck in 2011. She subsequently performed the concerto with the Aspen Chamber Symphony in summer 2012. Also written for her, was Andre Previn’s “Sonata for Bassoon”, and premiered by her with the composer at the 92nd Street Y in New York.

With Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony, Nancy Goeres premiered Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Bassoon Concerto, commissioned for her by the Pittsburgh Symphony. In addition to recording the Zwilich Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Lorin Maazel on the New World label, she has subsequently performed it with the Chamber Symphony of the Aspen Music Festival, with the Greenwich Village Orchestra, and at a conference of the International Double Reed Society. In 2004, she also performed the concerto and conducted master classes in Cuba with the Havana Symphony. Other concerto performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra include: Music from the Floating World, by David Ludwig, Haydn's Sinfonia concertante, John Williams' bassoon concerto, The Five Sacred Trees, and Mozart, Vivaldi and Rossini Bassoon Concertos.

An active teacher, Nancy Goeres has given master classes and recitals in Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America and returns frequently to China. In the United States, she often works with the students of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, and, among others, has given classes at The Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, Northwestern University, University of Michigan, Fresno State University, and has served as an adjudicator for the Meg Quigley Vivaldi and the IDRS Gillet Competitions.  

A native of Lodi, Wisconsin, Goeres’s principal teachers were Sherman Walt and Richard Lottridge. Goeres holds the Pittsburgh Symphony's Mr. & Mrs. William Genge and Mr. & Mrs. James E. Lee Principal Bassoon Chair. She has been a member of the board of directors of the Aspen Music Festival and also the Woodlands Foundation, whose mission is to enrich the lives of children and adults with disabilities.

Bassoonist and Contrabassonist of The Cleveland Orchestra

Jonathan Sherwin, bassoonist and contrabassoonist, joined The Cleveland Orchestra in 1997. Previous to joining The Cleveland Orchestra, Mr. Sherwin was a member of the Colorado Symphony, where he also served as personnel manager. While living in Denver, he was active on local Denver television and radio, performing "voice overs" for the orchestra's publicity and advertising. In addition, Mr. Sherwin was the host for the Colorado Symphony's "Talk Back" series of post concert question and answer forums. A native of Buffalo, New York, he holds a bachelor’s degree and The Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a master’s degree from Northwestern University. His teachers have included K. David Van Hoesen, Willard Elliot, Burl Lane, and Bradford Buckley.

Mr. Sherwin has served as principal bassoon of the Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago Civic Orchestra, and Chicago City Ballet Orchestra, and also has been a member of the New Orleans Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. He has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. Active as an educator, Mr. Sherwin teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music and at Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music and has given masterclasses at many colleges and music festivals including the Eastman School of Music, Duquesne University, The Aspen Music Festival, and The Chautauqua Music Festival. When not practicing, teaching or making reeds, Mr. Sherwin can be found on the tennis court or watching classic movies.

Jazz Bassoonist

Whether blowing bebop over a Mingus tune or freely improvising with Anthony Braxton, Michael Rabinowitz's contributions have changed the conception of what the bassoon can do. Since graduating with a BFA in music performance from SUNY at Purchase in the late seventies Michael's improvisatory skills opened the door for the bassoon to enter a variety of musical environments not traditionally associated with the instrument.

He has recorded with Ira Sullivan, Red Rodney, Wynton Marsalis, John Hicks, Dave Douglas, Chris Potter and Joe Lovano. His festival appearances include Chicago, Montreal, Berlin, Tri-city, Tanglewood, San Francisco and Hollywood Bowl. Michael is a founding member of The Charles Mingus Orchestra which can be heard regularly at the Jazz Standard in NYC. His quartet Bassoon and the Wild has performed at the The Vanderbilt Planetarium, Frick Museum, JVC Jazz Festival, , Penn State, Kavehaz and other venues in NYC. Ocean Eyes is Michael's 5th CD and documents the development of his quartet with mostly original compositions. The Buffet Group USA has been Michael's sponsor for the past fifteen years and has supported his participation in performances and master classes at the IDRS most notably the Jazz at June Festival in Oklahoma with oboist Paul McCandless. In 2009 Michael was awarded a grant from Chamber Music of America in collaboration with French oboist Jean Luc Fillon and released their CD On the Reed Again. In 2014, Michael formed a group called The Odd Couple Quintet with jazz horn virtuoso John Clark. Michael has conducted masters classes at many universities and has released four feature albums.