Roger Soren

Contrabassonist Roger Soren is joining the Colorado Symphony after 22 seasons as the Assistant Principal Bassoonist and Contrabassoonist of the Louisville Orchestra, and has appeared 3 times as soloist with this ensemble(including the North American premiere of "Hell's Angels" for 3 Bassoons and Contrabassoon and Orchestra by Michael Daugherty in 2000). Roger has also performed as Concerto Soloist with the Louisville Bach Society Orchestra, an ensemble with which he performed as Solo Bassoon for several seasons.  An active member of the International Double Reed Society, Roger has performed at 7 of their annual conferences, and was an opening night soloist with the Oklahoma City Symphony, with conductor David Lockington at the 2010 Conference at the University of Oklahoma, performing the Daniel Dorff Concerto for Contrabassoon and Orchestra, a concerto he also performed with the Haddonfield Symphony(NJ) with Daniel Hege conducting in 1998.  He also gave the World Premiere performance of "In A Deep Funk" by Daniel Dorff for Solo Contrabassoon in 1997 at the IDRS Conference at Northwestern University, and was a founding member of Contraband, the world's first and only contrabassoon octet who gave their first performance at the 2003 IDRS Conference in at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.     
 

A former member of the Jacksonville Symphony, Roger was also Acting Second Bassoon  of the Indianapolis Symphony for the 1997-98 season, and has also performed with the Montreal, Cincinnati, Grant Park, Nashville, Alabama, Grand Rapids, Detroit Metro Opera, and Spoleto Symphonies. 

An active educator, Roger was a Guest Lecturer at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music from 2004-2007, teaching contrabassoon, bassoon and reed-making classes to both graduate and undergraduate music majors.  He also taught the Summer College Preparatory Workshop there during 2007 and performed on faculty recitals and as Principal Bassoonist of the Indiana University Summer Festival Orchestra in 2004-2007.   While a Guest Principal Bassoon in the Chautauqua Symphony at the Chautauqua Institution in 2003, Roger also taught private bassoon lessons as well as Master Classes there.  Roger has given master classes at the Universities of North Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisville, Ball State, North Carolina School of the Arts, and been the Guest Artist at Double Reeds Days at both Western Kentucky University and University of Central Arkansas. He has been the Instructor of Bassoon at Western Kentucky University, and Indiana University Southeast, and has been a faculty member at the Summer Bassoon Extravaganza at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia  since 2007 and Bassoon Faculty at the New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine in 2006.