bassoon
Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Music. A former student of Stephen Maxym at the Manhattan and Juilliard schools of music, Professor Morelli holds the distinction of being the first bassoonist to be awarded a doctorate by the Juilliard School. He has appeared as a soloist in New York’s Carnegie Hall on nine occasions.
Active internationally as a soloist and with chamber and orchestral ensembles, he has over one hundred fifty recordings for major record labels to his credit. His performances and recording of the Mozart bassoon concerto with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra on the DG label met with international critical acclaim, and his recording of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for winds and orchestra with Orpheus for Nonesuch Records was named Recording of Special Merit by Stereo Review. Mr. Morelli’s recording with Orpheus of music by Stravinsky, “Shadow Dances,” won a Grammy in 2001. In addition to two solo CDs on MSR Classics, “Bassoon Brasileiro” and “Baroque Fireworks,” he recently released “Romance and Caprice,” also on MSR Classics, with Gilbert Kalish, piano. Mr. Morelli has appeared often with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, including at the final state dinner of the Clinton presidency.
He is principal bassoonist of the New York City Opera Orchestra, Orpheus, and the American Composers Orchestra, and is a member of the acclaimed woodwind quintet Windscape. He is the editor of Stravinsky: Difficult Passages, a collection of excerpts published by Boosey and Hawkes, and has written several transcriptions for bassoon and for woodwind quintet, published by TrevCo. He also serves on the faculties of the Juilliard School, SUNY Stony Brook, and the Manhattan School of Music.
He hosts a cyber master class at www.morellibasoon.com where he shares information about reeds and bassoon playing. Mr. Morelli joined the Yale faculty in 1994.