Richard Svoboda

Richard Svoboda has been principal bassoon of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players since 1989; as the BSO’s principal bassoon he occupies the Edward A. Taft Chair. An active chamber music collaborator, orchestral soloist, and recitalist, he is currently on the faculties of the New England Conservatory, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Sarasota Music Festival, and has given master classes throughout the world. Prior to his BSO appointment he was principal bassoon of the Jacksonville Symphony for ten seasons. Mr. Svoboda’s solo appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra have included John Williams’s bassoon concerto Five Sacred Trees with the composer conducting and Weber’s Concerto for Bassoon with Seiji Ozawa. He made his first solo appearance with the BSO in April 1991, in Haydn’s B-flat Concertante for violin, cello, oboe, and bassoon; played the world premiere of Marc Neikrug’s BSO-commissioned Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra in 2013 with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducting; has appeared with the orchestra on two occasions in Martin’s Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Timpani, Percussion, and Strings, under Seiji Ozawa and Charles Dutoit; and made his most recent solo appearance with the BSO in September 2014, with Marcelo Lehninger conducting, in Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante in E-flat for oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon, K.297b. Mr. Svoboda premiered Michael Gandolfi’s Concerto for Bassoon in 2007 and in 2011, along with his daughter, clarinetist Erin Svoboda, premiered Gandolfi’s Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon, collaborating on both occasions with Yoichi Udagawa and the Melrose Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Svoboda has more than thirty recordings to his credit with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Chamber Players, as well as the soundtracks to Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. His recordings include Gandolfi’s Concerto for Bassoon with Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project; “Le Phénix, 18th-Century French Music for Bassoon,” including music of Boismortier, Corrette, and Devienne; and a CD of early 20th-century European music. Mr. Svoboda is married and the proud father of four daughters. He and his family reside in Melrose.