Keith Sweger is Professor of Bassoon at Ball State University. Active in the International Double Reed Society (IDRS), he has served as President, Chair of the Gillet-Fox International Bassoon Competition and as host the 2006 conference of the IDRS. Sweger is principal bassoon with Orchestra Indiana and the Indianapolis Ballet Orchestra and is contrabassoonist of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. He has performed regularly with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and, most recently, with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He has been a recitalist at professional conferences and at colleges and universities around the US and abroad. He has recorded on the Arsis, Capstone, Albany, and Alicia labels. Strongly committed to teaching, Dr. Sweger is in demand as a clinician and guest teacher at colleges and universities and at summer festivals and camps. His students have received many honors and are playing in orchestras and teaching in universities, colleges, and public schools around the United States. Sweger was named the recipient of the 2007 College of Fine Arts Dean’s Teaching Award, the 2008 Indiana Music Educators Association Outstanding University Educator Award, the 2013 Dean’s Creative Endeavor Award, and a 2010 American Masterworks grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He was a guest artist/teacher at the 2011 and 2013 Asian Double Reed Association (ADRA) conferences, the 2012 Beijing International Bassoon Festival, the 2014 Spanish Double Reed (AFOES) conference and the 2017 Brazilian Double Reed Society (ABPD) conference. Dr. Sweger is a Fox Artist, performing on a Fox model 201.
Prior to taking the position of Assistant Principal Bassoon of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2006, Andrew Gott was Principal Bassoon of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra under the baton of JoAnn Falletta. He has also played Principal Bassoon with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Woodlands Symphony Orchestra. He has attended numerous music festivals both here and abroad including Tanglewood, National Repertory Orchestra, Jerusalem International Symphony Orchestra, Aspen, Sarasota, Domain Forget, Kent Blossom, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. An active chamber musician, Gott has also played in the Innsbrook Institute Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Consort, and the Virginia Arts Festival. He has served on the faculty at the Governor’s School for the Arts, Old Dominion University, Christopher Newport University, and Ball State Bassoon Camp. Gott received his Bachelor of Music from Ball State University, where he studied with Keith Sweger, and his Master of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he studied with Ben Kamins. Andrew Gott was born and raised in Bolivar, Missouri.
Miriam Brack Webber is currently Assistant Professor of Music at Bemidji State University. She holds a Bachelor's of Music from Ball State University in Bassoon Performance, and Master’s of Music from McGill University and the University of Kansas in Bassoon Performance and Music Theory, respectively, and a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in Music Theory. Currently principal bassoonist of the Bemidji Symphony and Heartland Symphony Orchestras, Webber is an active bassoonist and has performed with orchestras across the country, including Simphonietta Memphis Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, and St. Joseph Symphony, Fort Hays Symphony, S Springfield Symphony, Muncie Symphony, and Springfield-Drury Civic Orchestras.
She is a founding member of Silent Voices Project, a large-scale project formed to help create opportunities for womxn composers engaging in compositional pursuits of writing, publishing, performing, and recording western art music for chamber woodwinds. Initially funded through a Bemidji State University New Faculty Scholarship and Innovation Fund grant, Silent Voices Project believes strongly in the need for a more diverse representation of composers in the current classical repertoire. As a collective of women professionals, we are committed to fostering a project culture of respect, collaboration, and encouragement. Recent and upcoming opportunities for Silent Voices Project include recording a chamber music album, performances at the International Clarinet Association’s annual ClarinetFest, Mississippi University for Women’s annual Music By Women Festival, and premieres at the International Double Reed Society 2022 Conference and Meg Quigley’s 2023 Bassoon Symposium.
Lindsey Wiehl teaches woodwinds, music theory, music production, and composition at Valley City State University. She had formerly been teaching music classes at Indiana University Kokomo. Dr. Wiehl holds several degrees in music including a bachelors from the College of Saint Rose, an M.M. and a D.A. in Bassoon Performance from Ball State University, and a Professional Certificate in Advanced Music Production from Berklee College of Music. Among her favorite performance experiences include performing with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, National Music Festival, Bay View Music Festival, and the Arizona Opera. As a musician, Dr. Wiehl encourages others to unapologetically pursue their interests while ignoring stereotypes and preconceived notions of what it means to be a musician. She performs and has her compositions performed at national and international conferences including the International Double Reed Society, the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Bassoon Symposium, and the National Flute Association. She also has several exciting active commissions for compositions. Her research includes digging into musical analysis, composition, and creating opportunities to bring typically classical instruments into varying genres. You can learn more about her work at www.lindseywiehl.com.