Audition Cafe

Introduction

Laura is an American bassoonist currently residing in South Tyrol, Italy with her husband and three bassoons (modern, classical, and baroque). She earned a Bachelors and Masters degree in Music Performance from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with Kristin Wolfe Jensen and served as Teaching Assistant in her final year of studies. She recently completed her second Masters degree in Germany, studying historical bassoons with Katrin Lazar and Lyndon Watts at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. To enhance her studies, she attended numerous festivals throughout the US, Canada, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Between 2010 and 2012, she was featured as an “Emerging Artist” at the 2012 Victoria Bach Festival in Texas; a finalist in 3 international competitions (2012 Gillet-Fox Bassoon and 2010 Meg-Quigley Vivaldi); and soloed with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra after winning first prize at the 2011 Asian Double Reed Association Competition. Laura was the only American bassoonist to qualify for the 2nd Antonov International Competition for Woodwind Performers in 2014—which was to be held in Kiev but cancelled due to political unrest.

Before moving to Europe in 2015, Laura performed as principal bassoonist in several Texas symphony orchestras, including the San Antonio Symphony, Mid-Texas Symphony, and Corpus Christi Symphony. In addition to traveling throughout North America to present concerts and classes with the award-winning woodwind quintet, The City of Tomorrow, she maintained an active bassoon studio for seven years comprised of around 20 young bassoonists. Laura can be heard on Naxos Blu-Ray Audio, Mark Masters Records, Ravello, and Codaex labels performing in University of Texas ensembles, the woodwind quintet the City of Tomorrow, and Canadian chamber orchestra Gruppo Montebello.