Joseph Grimmer

Joseph Grimmer is Principal Bassoon of the Washington National Opera Orchestra/Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Maryland, where he also serves as Division Coordinator of Winds & Percussion and Coordinator of Chamber Music.

Previously, Grimmer served as Principal Bassoon of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Jacksonville Symphony, Section Bassoon with the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, Acting Assistant Principal Bassoon with the Naples Philharmonic, and for six summers as Assistant Principal Bassoon of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado.

Grimmer has appeared as Guest Principal Bassoon with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

As a soloist, Grimmer has appeared with International Double Reed Society Conference Orchestras in Otmar Nussio’s Variations on an Arietta by Pergolesi and Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy, and with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra in David Ludwig’s Pictures from the Floating World.

Drawing on his parallel careers as an orchestral musician and university professor, Grimmer bridges conservatory training with the practical demands of a professional performing career. He is also a faculty member for Carnegie Hall’s NYO2 and previously taught at Shenandoah Conservatory, Howard University, Catholic University, and the Miami Music Festival. He has presented masterclasses at institutions including Rice University, the Eastman School of Music, the University of Michigan, and UCLA, as well as internationally in Sweden, Spain, and Canada.

Grimmer was a fellow of the Lucerne Festival Academy, Aspen Music Festival and School, and Sarasota Music Festival and a prize winner in the International Double Reed Society’s inaugural Young Artist Bassoon Competition in Birmingham, England. He has also served on the Executive Board of Washington, D.C.’s Local 161-710 of the American Federation of Musicians.

Grimmer earned his Master of Music degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Kamins, and his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he studied with William Winstead.