Jeffrey Keesecker

Jeff Keesecker is Professor of Bassoon at The Florida State University. He is Principal Bassoonist with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, and holds the Paul W. and Phyllis G. Runge Principal Bassoon Chair with the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra. He is a Valade Fellow at the Interlochen Arts Camp (Michigan), is the Bassoon Mentor of the National Music Festival (Virginia), and is the bassoonist with The Dorian Consort and the Opperman Reed Trio.

Prior to coming to FSU he was a member of the Florida Orchestra in Tampa and taught at the University of South Florida. He has been principal bassoonist with the Florida West Coast Symphony (now the Sarasota Orchestra), the St. Gallen Sinfonie (Switzerland), and Solisti New York. He spent multiple summers with the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival (Asheville, North Carolina), the Animas Music Festival (Durango, Colorado) and the Utah Music Festival. He has a solo CD, with pianist Hélène Grimaud, entitled Bassoon Music of the Americas (featuring the music of Etler, Siqueira, Osborne, and Villa-Lobos), and in 2003 gave the World Premiere of Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Bassoon and Wind Ensemble.

A native of Sarasota, Florida, he first studied bassoon with Trevor Cramer. He received a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance at Florida State University, studying with William Winstead, and a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Steven Maxym. He has participated in the Aspen, Waterloo, and Sarasota Music Festivals, in the National Repertory Orchestra, and in the New York String Orchestra Seminar.