Bassoonist Carolyn Beck leads a diverse musical life performing frequently as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. She is the Principal Bassoonist with the Redlands Symphony and the San Bernardino Symphony, and performs with many other concert and studio recording orchestras in the Los Angeles area including the period instrument groups, Musica Angelica and Bach Collegium San Diego. Her solo CD "Beck and Call" is available on Crystal Records.
A champion of new music, she has commissioned and performed new solo works for bassoon in New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Austin, San Diego, Baton Rouge, New Haven, and Banff, Canada. She has performed with a number of contemporary music ensembles including the Twentieth Century Consort in Washington D.C. and North-South Consonance in New York. Her solo performances have included appearances at several International Double Reed Society Conferences, frequent recitals, and performances of The Five Sacred Trees, concerto for bassoon and orchestra by John Williams, with the Redlands Symphony. She has performed with Chamber Music Palisades, the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society (Massachusetts), Southwest Chamber Music, Mladi, and other chamber music groups in the Los Angeles area. Dr. Beck was formerly the principal bassoonist of the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Orchesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Spain.
She is currently the adjunct bassoon teacher at the University of Redlands, California State University, Northridge, Pomona College, and Idyllwild Arts Academy. From 1988-92 she was the bassoon professor at The University of Texas at Austin.
She received the degrees of Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music, Master of Music from the Yale School of Music, and Bachelor of Arts in Bassoon Performance from California State University, Northridge.