Meet the Orchestra: Musician Profile

APrincipal bassoonist Ellen Connors earned her undergraduate degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University where she studied with Benjamin Kamins. While at Rice she won a prestigious Watson Fellowship and spent the following year in Europe and Asia studying folk music. She received her Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music in 2009 studying with Frank Morelli. Last spring she performed in Korea and China with the Schola Cantorum of Yale under the leadership of Simon Carrington. Ellen has been a fellow at the Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals and has participated in summer programs at Sarasota, Domaine Forget and the Chautauqua Institute. She has worked under the baton of such acclaimed conductors as James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Oundjian, Sir Andrew Davis and Itzhak Perlman. Ellen is a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan.