About Saxton Rose

Saxton Rose's virtuosic interpretations of traditional repertoire, and his dedication to new music have afforded him a prolific and varied career as soloist, orchestral and chamber musician. Performances this season include works from Bach to Berio, Mozart to Frank Zappa, and numerous world premieres from composers such as Michael Gordon, Felipe Perez Santiago, John Fitz Rogers, and Lawrence Dillon. He is Artist/Professor of Bassoon at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, principal bassoonist of the Winston-Salem Symphony, and was recently named the new bassoonist of Zéphyros Winds, an acclaimed New-York based wind quintet.

Mr. Rose performs and teaches throughout the world. This past year he performed the Mozart Bassoon Concerto with the National Symphony of Colombia in Bogotá, a concerto by Vivaldi with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Caldas, Colombia and in Berlin at the Philharmonie with Alarm Will Sound, one of the word's premier contemporary music ensembles. Other recent engagements as concerto soloist have been with the National Symphony of Panamá, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and with the Winston-Salem Symphony. In demand as a recitalist and clinician, he has performed and taught at festivals in Costa Rica, Germany, Austria, Spain, Canada, Panamá, Colombia and England. In the US he has given master classes at the Universities of Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, South Carolina, and at Lawrence Conservatory, Ball State University, Butler University, among many others. He has performed as an invited guest at the conferences of the International Double Reed Society, an organization for which he serves as Associate Editor of IDRS Online Publications and chair of the IDRS Young Artist Bassoon Competition.

As principal bassoonist of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2008 he performed with many of the leading artists of our time including Yo Yo Ma, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Placido Domingo, Ben Hepner, Joshua Bell, Anna Netrebko, Sarah Chang, Roberto Alagna, Angela Gheorghiu, Pepe Romero and the Emerson String Quartet among others. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, in the Casals Festival and on tours to Europe and throughout Latin America.

Throughout his career, Mr. Rose has worked to expand the repertoire of the bassoon, and to redefine its role in contemporary music by collaborating with established and emerging composers to commission new works. In 2010, Mr. Rose helped found Dark in the Song, a bassoon collective comprised the most widely known bassoonists in the contemporary music scene. Called a "bassoon supergroup" by the American Music Center, Dark in the Song performs and commissions new works, collaborating directly with composers to create a new 21st century repertoire for bassoon ensembles. As a member of Camerata Caribe, a Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music faculty chamber ensemble, he worked with Puerto Rican composers such as Latin Grammy Nominee Alfonso Fuentes, William Ortiz, José Rodríguez Alvira and Alberto Rodríguez on the creation of new solo and chamber music for the bassoon. He has premiered numerous works and is well known for these impassioned performances.

Mr. Rose began studying the bassoon in his hometown near Chicago, Illinois. His training includes courses in Germany, Austria and Italy with some of Europe's most distinguished bassoonists including Gustavo Nuñez and Sergio Azzolini. He graduated with highest honors from the class of Stefano Canuti at the Conservatorio "Agostino Steffani" in Castelfranco-Veneto, Italy and is a former student of William Winstead at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Additionally his teachers include Yoshi Ishikawa and Timothy McGovern.

Saxton Rose is a J. Püchner artist and performs on the Model Superior/6000 bassoon.

While not playing the bassoon, Saxton enjoys cooking, playing tennis, and rooting for the Chicago Cubs. He currently lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with his wife soprano Elizabeth Pacheco Rose, and their two children.