Hailed for her virtuosity and vibrant musical spirit, bassoonist Eleni Katz has established herself as a prominent soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. Her “thoughtful and expressive” approach to music making has led her to performances by the bright blue waters of Bermuda to the lights of Carnegie Hall (San Diego Union Tribune). Eleni is a winner of the 2022 Concert Artist Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and has performed with the likes of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, Camerata Pacifica, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Currently, Eleni is bassoon teaching faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
As a classically trained singer from Iowa City, Katz has always believed that the bassoon should emulate the organic nature of the human voice and her approach to playing the bassoon has been described as “uncannily human” (The Royal Gazette). In 2021, she commissioned and premiered “Sea Glass Partita for Singing Bassoonist” with composer Lila Meretzky. Drawing its lyrics from a poem that Eleni composed, the piece intersperses bassoon performance with singing and visual projections. Since the performance of this work, Eleni has commissioned several other works for bassoon that are multidisciplinary experiences by Tanner Porter, Harry Castle, Marc Vallon, Gabrielle Herbst, Cindi Hsu, and Richard Brasseale. In May 2024, Eleni Katz co-released an album featuring Richard Brasseale’s composition Enlaced Friendship, a work based on her original poetry that premiered at the New World Symphony in April 2023. This season, Eleni looks forward to several commissioning projects and tours with her newly formed duo, Basso Vox, with double bassist Nina Bernat.
Eleni received her B.M. at the University of Wisconsin’s Mead Witter School of Music under Marc Vallon and she earned her master’s degree at the Yale School of Music, studying with Frank Morelli. Eleni was the winner of the concerto competitions at both institutions.