Shepherd Careers Forum ’07

Rachael Young, bassoonist

From Carnegie Hall to classrooms in the mountains, bassoonist Rachael Young’s career has spanned a wide variety of venues, styles, and genres that are not limited to the concert stage. As an orchestral musician, she has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and is currently the Assistant Principal Bassoonist of the Symphony of Southeast Texas. She has also held principal positions with the Equinox Symphony Orchestra of Rochester and the Classical Symphony Orchestra of Chicago, her native hometown. As a Lois Roger’s Scholar at the Eastman School of Music, she participated in the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s Carnegie Hall tour and performed many times with the faculty ensemble “Virtuosi.” She also received an Arts Leadership Certificate through her work as an intern with the Artistic Operations Department of the Rochester Philharmonic.

Equally active as a chamber musician, her woodwind quintet the “Destino Winds” have achieved recognition for their commitment to both performance and outreach. They were three-time finalists at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in Pasadena, CA, and were selected to be Fellows at Yale’s prestigious Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. The Destino Winds were also awarded Eastman’s John Celentano award for excellence in Chamber Music. As educators, they were invited by the Lake Placid Symphonietta to be the first group to hold an annual residency in the isolated Adirondack school systems. Each year, they performed and led master classes for students ranging from Pre-K through High School and also gave concerts in local living rooms and churches.

A committed teacher on her own, Rachael served as a mentor for the MERIT program while attending the Music Academy of the West, where she was the recipient of the bassoon fellowship award. Other summer study includes the International Festival-Institute at Round Top and the Sarasota Music Festival. Through these festivals, she studied with and performed in master classes for Frank Morelli, Dennis Michel, and William Winstead. Rachael received her Bachelor’s degree with Highest Distinction from Eastman where she was a student of John Hunt, and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree as a student of Benjamin Kamins at Rice University.