Since 2000, Steve Vacchi has been professor of bassoon at the University of Oregon, where he also coordinates the chamber music program. He holds performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music, The Hartt School, and Louisiana State University, and also studied at the Yale School of Music. Formerly a faculty member at Wichita State University (KS) and the Brevard Music Center (NC), he was recently a faculty sabbatical replacement at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
Vacchi has performed on 24 recordings ranging from the music of J.S. Bach to a recent work for bassoon and live electronics inspired by Swedish heavy metal band Meshuggah. He has performed in 25 countries throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East. In the U.S., Vacchi has performed with The Florida Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica, the Rhode Island, Tulsa, and Rochester Philharmonics, and the Saint Louis, New World, Baton Rouge, Colorado, Honolulu, Kansas City, Oregon, Sarasota, New Haven, and Wichita Symphony Orchestras. A member of the Oregon Bach Festival, Eugene Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Wind Quintet, Douglas Detrick’s AnyWhen Ensemble, and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (CA), he has been a featured soloist in thirteen concertos. Vacchi also performs early music on historical bassoons with ensembles throughout the west coast, and he recently began performing on the rarely-seen Heckelphone.