Basoonist Koepke to be first guest for new series

Laura Koepke, bassoon professor at SUNY Fredonia, will serve as the inaugural speaker of the new series, Striking Notes.

SUNY Fredonia Assistant Professor of Bassoon Laura Koepke will be featured as the inaugural guest speaker of the new series, "Striking Notes." Koepke’s presentation, "Women in the Field of Music," will include a lecture and Q & A session regarding her role as both a female musician and a business woman.

The lecture will take place on Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. in room G138 of the Williams Center. It is free and open to all campus and community members. SUNY Fredonia’s Women’s Student Union will be co-sponsoring the event.

Although Koepke will not perform at the presentation, she will promote her upcoming performance with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. in King Concert Hall. Tickets are available via the SUNY Fredonia Ticket Office or online at www.fredonia.edu/tickets.

Striking Notes is a new series sponsored by the Western New York Chamber Orchestra seeking to introduce guest artists to SUNY Fredonia students in a new way. Each concert features a guest artist and includes a workshop which allows attendees to work and talk one-on-one with the artist. Guest artists will include musicians from all over the country.

Koepke has performed with many of New York's finest orchestras, including numerous concerts with the world-renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, on European and U.S. tours, and at home in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. She has also performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, American Composers Orchestra, New York Pops, American Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York City Opera, and the Westchester Philharmonic.

Since 1998, Koepke has been a member of the internationally acclaimed woodwind Quintet of the Americas. She has performed as a guest artist with Zephyros Winds, North Country Chamber Players, Sequitur, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Also a member of the Curiously Strong Winds, Koepke has performed at the Bard Festival, Bang on a Can, and Festival of the Hamptons. Other festival appearances include the Lincoln Center Festival, Bar Harbor Music Festival, Maverick Concerts, and the Weekend of Chamber Music Festival.

Koepke joined the Fredonia faculty in 2007. She graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College and holds a Master's Degree and Artist Diploma from Yale University School of Music, where she studied with Stephen Maxym and Frank Morelli.

To learn more about the Striking Notes series, contact Western New York Chamber Orchestra board member and Women’s Student Union member Teresa McCarthy at (585) 802-3401 or mcca7215@fredonia.edu.