About Saxton Rose

Bassoonist Saxton Rose's virtuosic and innovative interpretations of traditional repertoire, and his dedication to new music have afforded him a prolific and varied career as soloist, orchestral and chamber musician. Mr. Rose is Artist/Professor of Bassoon at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the principal bassoonist of the Winston-Salem Symphony.

As soloist, Mr. Rose has given recitals and performed with orchestras throughout Europe, Latin America, Canada and the US. He appeared as concerto soloist on numerous occasions with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra as well as with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Caldas, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Panamá and with the Winston-Salem Symphony. He is a frequent guest artist throughout the world having performed and taught most recently at festivals in Costa Rica, Austria, Spain, Panamá, Colombia and England. He has performed solo recitals 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 by collaborating with established and emerging composers to commission new works. 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. In 2010, Mr. Rose helped found Dark in the Song, a bassoon collective comprised of five of the most widely known bassoonists in the contemporary music scene: Rachael Elliott, Lynn Hileman, Michael Harley, Peter Kolkay and Saxton Rose. The group performs and commissions new works, collarborating directly with composers to create a new 21st century repertoire for bassoon ensembles.

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.

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 Elizabeth Pacheco Rose, a soprano, and their two children.