Photo Credit: Erika Nizborski
Joseph Grimmer is Principal Bassoon of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra/Washington National Opera Orchestra and the Bassoon Professor and Coordinator of Woodwind Chamber Music at the University of Maryland. He also holds the Principal Bassoon position of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. He previously served as Principal Bassoon with the Jacksonville Symphony, was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, Acting Assistant Principal Bassoon with the Naples Philharmonic, and spent six summers as Assistant Principal Bassoon with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado. He has performed as Guest Principal Bassoon with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, IRIS Orchestra, Savannah Philharmonic, and Windsor Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the National Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony and Arizona Musicfest Orchestras.
Grimmer was a fellow at the Lucerne, Aspen, and Sarasota Music Festivals and a prize winner at the International Double Reed Society’s Young Artist Bassoon Competition in Birmingham, England. He was recently awarded an Independent Artist Award by the Maryland State Arts Council. He is a faculty member and Woodwind Chamber Music Director of the Miami Music Festival and maintains a private bassoon studio. Grimmer performs frequently throughout the DMV area with the Juniper Trio with oboist Jamie Roberts and pianist Jamila Tekalli. He previously taught at the Shenandoah Conservatory and has given masterclasses in Spain, Sweden, Canada, and throughout the USA. Grimmer earned his Master of Music degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Kamins. He also studied with William Winstead at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree.
Mr. Grimmer makes his home in the Historic District of Hyattsville, Maryland with his wife, Jessica, and their mini-goldendoodle, Fozzie.