BASSOON

ROGER SOREN (bassoon) has been the Assistant Principal Bassoonist and Contrabassoonist and occasional saxophonist of the Louisville Orchestra since 1989, and has appeared as soloist 3 times with that ensemble. Roger has also performed as soloist with the Haddonfield(NJ) Symphony, the Brunswick(GA) Symphony and the Jewish Community Center Orchestra in Louisville. He has also been a member of the Indianapolis and Jacksonville Symphonies, and was the acting contrabassoonist with the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit on their US tour in 1996.

Mr. Soren has participated at several music festivals including the Spoleto, Colorado(now NRO), Oregon Coast and Peninsula. Roger has held fellowships to the Aspen Music Festival and National Orchestral Association of NY. Mr. Soren has been the Guest Principal Bassoonist in both the Summer Festival Orchestra at Indiana University in Bloomington, and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in NY.

Roger has been a guest artist at four International Double Reed Society conventions and gave the World Premiere of Daniel Dorff's "In A Deep Funk" for solo contrabassoon at the 1997 convention at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and is a founding member of "Contraband", the world's only professional contrabassoon octet which gave it's premiere in 2003 at the IDRS Convention at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Roger is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Music where he studied with Sidney Rosenberg, and his training includes the Interlochen Arts Camp, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the National Orchestral Association of New York. In addition to his many recordings with the Louisville Orchestra, he has recorded with the Nashville Symphony on Naxos, and with the rock group 'Days of the New' on the Geffen label.

As an educator, Mr. Soren is currently a Guest Teacher of Contrabassoon and Bassoon at Indiana University in Bloomington and Instructor of Bassoon at IU Southeast, and has taught master classes at the University of Illinois, University of Kentucky, Ball State University, Western Kentucky University and the Chautauqua Institution of New York. He has also been the Instructor of Bassoon at Bellarmine University and Florida Community College at Jacksonville.

Mr. Soren resides in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, Angela, their three daughters, Alyssa, Hannah and Kayla.