Phillip Kolker began his professional playing career at the age of 14 as Second Bassoon in the Albany Symphony, a job he held through high school. In the fall of 2010, he retired as Principal Bassoon of the Baltimore Symphony after 38 years. In between those first and last jobs, he served as Principal in the Milwaukee Symphony, Associate Principal in the Minnesota Orchestra and Principal in both the Sante Fe (NM) and St. Paul Opera orchestras.
Mr. Kolker has appeared as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony as well as with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and, internationally, with orchestras in Spain and Taiwan. Conductors he has worked with include Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Sergiu Commissiona, David Zinman, Yuri Temirkanov, Marin Alsop, Leon Fleisher, Eugene Ormandy, Leopold Stokowski, Pierre Monteux, Erich Leinsdorf, Antal Dorati, Howard Hansen, Frederick Fennell, Alexander Schneider and Jean Martinon. He has performed chamber music throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, appearing with such artists as flutists Robert Willoughby and Marina Piccinini, violinist Hilary Hahn, cellist Anner Bylsma, oboist John Mack, English horn player Thomas Stacy, clarinetists Anthony Gigliotti, Franklin Cohen and Larry Coombs and pianist Malcolm Frager.
Phillip Kolker is a member of the Artist Faculty of the Peabody Conservatory. July, 2017, marked his seventh year as host of the Peabody Bassoon Week, an intense camp for college and high school-aged bassoon players, and for gifted amateurs. Mr. Kolker has been a visiting Professor at the Eastman School of Music, and has presented master classes at the Curtis Institute, Eastman, the National Orchestral Institute, the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp, the Interlochen National Music Camp, and in both Korea and Taiwan. He has been a featured recitalist at several International Double Reed Society Conferences and has served on the Executive Committee of the IDRS. For many years Mr. Kolker was a fixture at Music from Gretna, where he still appears periodically. He also continues to freelance regularly throughout the mid-Atlantic region with such groups as the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and the Baltimore Concert Artists. Orchestral recordings with the Baltimore Symphony include the Vanguard, Telarc, London, Sony, Argo and Naxos labels.
photo by Howard Rockwin
© NAVONA RECORDS LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
NAVONA Records is the contemporary classical label imprint of audio production house PARMA Recordings. Dedicated to highlighting forward thinking composers and musicians from around the world, the New England-based label's eclectic catalog offers listeners a cross-section of today's up-and-coming innovators in orchestral, chamber, and experimental music.
223 Lafayette Road
North Hampton NH 03862
PRESS INQUIRIES
press (at) parmarecordings.com
603.758.1718 x 151
