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Christopher Jewell, bassoon
Christopher Jewell is the Assistant Principal Bassoonist of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the resident orchestra of the Washington National Opera. In addition, he serves on the faculty of George Mason University and Catholic University. An active performer in the Washington, DC area, Mr. Jewell also regularly performs with the Wolf Trap Opera Company, Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, and the Post Classical Ensemble. He has previously served as Principal Bassoonist of the Missouri Chamber Orchestra and has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, New World Symphony, and Aspen Festival and Chamber Orchestras. Mr. Jewell has appeared as a soloist with the American Youth Symphonic Orchestra, the Catholic University Chamber Orchestra, and with ensembles at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and at the Missouri Music Educators Association Convention.
As a clinician and adjudicator, he has served as a judge for the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Woodwinds Competition and has presented masterclasses for the DC, Maryland, and Delaware Youth Orchestras and at schools throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area. He has additionally taught masterclasses at James Madison University and the University of Missouri, and was honored to coach students at the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony in Caracas, Venezuela, under Gustavo Dudamel. Mr. Jewell maintains a vibrant private studio from which students have gone on to study at schools such as Carnegie Mellon, Oberlin, Northwestern, and The Juilliard School.
An avid chamber musician, he has performed at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Georgetown University’s Friday Music Series, and the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, and has been featured on WETA’s Front Row Washington. He has also performed with ensembles at the International Double Reed Society and Texas Music Educators Association Conventions. Mr. Jewell earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia where he studied with Barbara Wood. He continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music with Patricia Rogers, Principal Bassoonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.