Artist Bio
Called “superb” by the Washington Post and “stunningly virtuosic” by the New York Times, Peter Kolkay is the only bassoonist to have received an Avery Fisher Career Grant. He regularly performs with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has appeared in recent seasons at the Music@Menlo, Bridgehampton, Sarasota, and Maverick summer festivals. He has commissioned and premiered solo works by Joan Tower, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Tania León, among others. His most recent record, Red Maple (Bridge Records), features music for bassoon and strings by Tower, Turnage, Russell Platt, and Judith Weir performed with the Calidore String Quintet. Kolkay is a professor at the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, where he received the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2024. He holds degrees from Lawrence University, the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University, and studied with Frank Morelli, John Hunt, Jean Barr, and Monte Perkins.
