Beethoven's 2nd Symphony
February 12, 2011

Hailing from Manchester, New Hampshire, bassoonist Karl Rzasa holds degrees from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and University of Massachussetts at Amherst.  He migrated to Chicago in 2004 to join the Civic Orchestra of Chicago of which he was a member until 2006.  Mr. Rzasa joined the Rockford Symphony Orchestra as principal bassoon in 2007, and is delighted to be making his professional concerto debut with his friends and colleagues on the Coronado stage.

Mr. Rzasa participates in the Southern Illinois Music Festival as principal bassoonist, and has served as interim principal bassoon of the Kenosha Symphony and the Quad Cities Symphony. He has appeared with many other orchestras including the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Vermont Symphony Orchestra. He can be heard on the Elgin Symphony’s recording of Copland works on the NAXOS label. 

An active chamber musician, Mr. Rzasa is a proud member of the Fifth House Ensemble based in Chicago, and has also appeared with CSO’s new music series MusicNOW. In the summer of 2006, he attended the Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Alberta, Canada as a member of the Hara Quintet.  Mr. Rzasa’s principal teachers include Janet Polk, George Sakakeeny, Stephen Walt, and Bill Buchman.  When he doesn’t have his 1951 Heckel bassoon in hand, you can find him serving steak and pouring wine in downtown Chicago, at home with his two fat cats, or driving all over creation in his diesel powered Volkswagen.