About Saxton Rose

In the Fall of 2008, Saxton Rose will join the North Carolina School of the Arts faculty as its full-time teacher of bassoon. Since 2003 he has been principal bassoonist of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and Professor of bassoon and chamber music at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music.

A versatile and dynamic performer, Saxton Rose is active as a soloist, orchestra and chamber musician. He has performed with many of the leading artists of our time including Yo Yo Ma, Placido Domingo, Ben Hepner, Anna Netrebko, Joshua Bell, Vladimir Feltsman, Ricardo Morales, Elmar Oliveira, Pepe Romero, Roberto Alagna, Angela Gheorghiu, Jane Eaglen, Andreas Delfs, Yoav Talmi and the Emerson String Quartet. With the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra he has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, in the Casals Festival and on tours to Europe and throughout the Caribbean.

As soloist, Mr. Rose has given recitals and performed with orchestras throughout Latin America, Europe and the US including recent concerto appearances with the Panamá Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de Camera Concierto and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. He is a frequent guest artist at music festivals throughout the world having performed and taught at the Harlaxton International Chamber Music Festival (England), Burgos Chamber Music Festival (Spain), Classical Music Festival of Eisenstadt, Austria and the Double Reed Festival of Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean in Panamá. He has performed at the conference of the International Double Reed Society numerous times, an organization for which he serves as assistant editor of the IDRS web site.

As a member of Camerata Caribe, a Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music faculty chamber ensemble, Mr. Rose has worked to expand the repertoire of the bassoon by collaborating with Puerto Rican composers on the creation of many new works. He will perform a recital of a selection of these pieces in Utah in July of 2008.

Saxton began studying the bassoon in his hometown near Chicago, Illinois. His formal 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 San Juan, Puerto Rico with his wife Elizabeth Pacheco Rose, a soprano and son Joakim.