Blair Master Series: Peter Kolkay, bassoon at Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University

Peter Kolkay is professor of bassoon at the Blair School of Music. As a chamber musician, he is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and regularly appears at the Sarasota, Santa Fe, Music@Menlo, and Bridgehampton summer festivals. Kolkay has commissioned and premiered solo works by Joan Tower, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Elliott Carter, and Tania León, among many others, and his most recent recordings include an album of music for bassoon and strings with the Calidore String Quartet, and the Christopher Rouse concerto with the Albany Symphony. He is the only bassoonist to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant. In demand as a teacher, he has given master classes throughout the US, Mexico, and South Korea. In 2024, Kolkay was awarded Vanderbilt’s Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for teaching upon the nomination of his students. He holds degrees from Lawrence University, the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University, and his primary teachers include Frank Morelli, John Hunt, Jean Barr, and Monte Perkins. Peter Kolkay is a native of Naperville, Illinois and performs on a Fox 601 bassoon.