Brad Balliett, Bassoonist
Brad Balliett enjoys being a musical omnivore, focusing equal parts of his career on composing, playing bassoon, and teaching artistry. Mr. Balliett is principal bassoon of the Princeton Symphony, a member of Signal and Metropolis Ensemble, a founding member and former Artistic Director for Decoda, a member of the composer-collective band Oracle Hysterical, and is on faculty at the Peabody Institute, the Juilliard School, and Musicambia.
As a teaching artist, Mr. Balliett regularly leads composition and song-writing workshops in prisons, schools, hospitals, and homeless shelters. His work with Musicambia has given him the opportunity to guide aspiring composers and performers at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Allendale Correctional Facility, Brooklyn Detention Center, and San Quentin State Prison. With Project: Music Heals Us, he has led music history and composition workshops at Radgowski-Corrigan and Bain Correctional Center. With Decoda, he has participated in workshops for over six years at Lee Correctional Institute.
As a bassoonist, Brad has performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, Houston Symphony, New York City Ballet, and the International Contemporary Ensemble, and at the Marlboro, Tanglewood, Stellenbosch, Newport Jazz, and Lucerne Festivals. He has performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony and Johannesburg Symphony Orchestras.
Raised in Westborough, Massachusetts, Mr. Balliett graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 2005, where he studied composition with John Harbison, and holds an MM from Rice University. He spends as much time as possible outside, observing birds and trees.
Mr. Balliett performs at CCCMF 2021 on October 7, 8, and 10
