Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma presents:
 

Carl Rath

Mr. Carl Rath, associate professor of bassoon at the University of Oklahoma School of Music, is an accomplished teacher, soloist and chamber musician. He has performed with many bands and orchestras throughout the United States and Europe, including celebrated performances at Carnegie Hall and the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, where he served as principal and solo bassoon and as a solo artist in performances of the Mozart Concerto and the Haydn Sinfonie Concertante in Bb. He also has served as teacher, recitalist and chamber musician at the Red Lodge Music Festival since 1979 and has given several feature performances at the International Double Reed Society annual conferences. At the 2007 IDRS conference, he will perform with the North American Bassoon Quartet, which will feature Rath’s own arrangement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. Rath also has been invited to perform and teach master classes around the world, including China, Taiwan and Paraguay.

An active musician, Rath serves as principal bassoon with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, a bassoonist in the Oklahoma Woodwind Quintet, as the U.S. representative in the International Bassoon Quartet – a quartet in which he is a founding member – and as a bassoonist in the Academia Filarmonica. He has written many arrangements for bassoon ensembles and woodwind quartet, and in 1985 was selected as a quarter finalist in the 34th Annual Concert Artist Guild International Competition. Since 1990, Rath also has served as the drummer for classic rock band, MidLife Crysis. Additionally, Rath, who is a Beatles enthusiast, regularly produces annual, sold-out concerts by Tribute, the No. 1 Beatles band in the world.

Rath earned his bachelor’s degree in music education in 1975 from the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, where he graduated with distinction in performance. He earned his master’s degree in 1977 from University of Denver Lamont School of Music. He has been at the OU School of Music since 1981, where he has received both the OU College of Fine Arts Outstanding Faculty Award and the Fine Arts Faculty Peer Recognition Award for his outstanding teaching. In addition to his work as professor of bassoon and coordinator of undergraduate studies at OU, Rath also chairs the Woodwind department and teaches courses in popular music culture.

Website: www.carlrath.com