Biography
Allen Hamrick is an active freelance bassoonist and recorder player based in the Boston Area. He has been praised for his musicality, virtuosity, and “purity of sound,” and is an avid performer of bassoons from the entire historical gamut. He has played with some of the top period ensembles in Boston including Boston Baroque, the Handel and Haydn Society, and the Boston Early Music Festival orchestra, and is in high demand as an orchestral and chamber musician across the country. He frequently appears with Mercury Baroque, La Fiocco, and La Grande Bande, and has recently collaborated with Philharmonia Austin and ACRONYM. He is a regular member of the Teatro Nuovo summer festival, an ensemble dedicated to historically informed performances of Bel Canto opera which, during the 2021 season, presented the first public opera performances in New York City in the wake of the global pandemic. He is a founding member of the broken consort ensemble Ardenza, where he enjoys exploring repertoire written for the dulcian, the late-Renaissance precursor to the bassoon and one of his special interests. As a modern bassoonist, he has performed with various orchestras in the New England area including New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Symphony Orchestra, and Dartmouth Symphony; and in North Carolina with such ensembles as Greensboro Symphony and Winston-Salem Symphony.
Originally from Indiana, Allen holds degrees from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (Bachelor of Music with Honors, minor degrees in Japanese and Mathematics, and a Performer’s Diploma); from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (Master of Music in Modern Bassoon Performance); and from the Juilliard School (Master of Music in Historical Performance). His teachers include Arthur Weisberg, William Ludwig, Kathleen McKlean, Saxton Rose, and Dominic Teresi, and he has enhanced his bassoon education through tutelage from Michael McCraw, Andrew Schwartz, and Marc Vallon. He is enthusiastic about other instruments as well and has studied keyboards with Timothy Olsen and Eric Larsen, and has studied recorder with Nina Stern. Allen is a faculty member of the Instrumental and Vocal Extension Program through the public school system in Wellesley, MA, and is excited to join the ranks of eminent colleagues teaching at Longy. When he isn’t performing or teaching, he enjoys participating in physically active pursuits, such as gymnastics, and mentally active pursuits, such as studying various languages and playing Go.
Teaching Philosophy
“I believe it is the role of the pedagogue to guide the student to a point where they have grown beyond the need for a teacher outside of themselves. Meeting students where they are, I strive to cultivate a safe and welcoming environment where they feel empowered to take risks and to develop at their own pace and in their own way into the musicians that they aspire to be. Capitalizing on students’ interests, we explore a vast array of repertoire that meet the demands of today’s industry and we develop the critical thinking skills needed to pursue the discipline of historical performance, all while maintaining a focus on developing technique that makes such artistry possible. Not merely content with ensuring students acquire the confidence and the tools to be self-reliant, I also seek to help them develop a sense of style with early music and help them realize for themselves what constitutes ‘le bon gout.’”