NANCI BELMONT
Bassoonist / Performer / Educator
/ BIOGRAPHY
A dynamic performer and educator, bassoonist Nanci Belmont is passionate about connecting with audiences.
Praised as “a lyrical soloist” with “beautiful playing in both tone and technique” by New York Concert Review, she is the Second Prize winner of the 2016 Fernand Gillet-Hugo Fox Competition of the International Double Reed Society and a Performing Artist for Leitzinger Bassoons. Nanci maintains an active career as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician, with performances ranging from traditional repertoire to the newest works for bassoon.
An avid and dynamic soloist, recent engagements include the Andrzej Panufnik Bassoon Concerto with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Nico Muhly’s Reliable Sources with the LSU Wind Ensemble, and guest artist recitals at universities, festivals and conferences throughout the United States and abroad. She has appeared frequently at International Double Reed Society Conferences and Meg Quigley Bassoon Symposia, as well as at universities including Denver, Vanderbilt, North Carolina School of the Arts, Kentucky and Arkansas.
Contemporary music is a defining part of Nanci’s artistic life. With nearly two decades of experience performing new music, she has collaborated with ensembles including the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Argento New Music Project, Contemporaneous and Experiential Orchestra. Her work has taken her to major contemporary music venues and festivals across the United States and Europe, including performances with Ensemble intercontemporain in Paris, Brussels, Luxembourg and Lucerne. She is an active commissioner of new works for bassoon and chamber ensembles and currently serves as Chair of the International Double Reed Society Commissioning Committee.
Chamber music is also integral to Nanci’s career. She is a principal artist of The City of Tomorrow, a wind quintet committed to bringing new music to audiences in engaging and unexpected ways. The ensemble’s album Blow, released by New Focus Recordings, features music by Franco Donatoni, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Hannah Lash. Nanci also performs at chamber music festivals across the United States, including the Chamber Music Conference of the East, Crescent City Chamber Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival and Savannah Music Festival.
An experienced orchestral bassoonist, Nanci has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York City Ballet Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and many other ensembles. She is Principal Bassoon and Co-Artistic Director of the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra in New York City.
As Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Louisiana State University, Nanci brings her broad experience as a performer into the studio. Her teaching centres on developing curious, independent musicians equipped not only to perform at a high level, but also to navigate and shape the evolving profession. Her students have gone on to graduate study at Yale, Northwestern, McGill, the University of Illinois and Florida State University, as well as to professional teaching positions. She regularly presents masterclasses and workshops at universities and conferences and is on faculty at the Mostly Modern Festival and Lucerne Festival Academy.
Her approach to teaching and performing is rooted in a longstanding commitment to community engagement. As a Fellow of Ensemble Connect, a program of Carnegie Hall and The Juilliard School, she spent two years working with students in New York City public schools and later returned as an Alumni Teaching Artist and Fellowship Advisor. She has worked with students and communities in schools, hospitals, senior centres and other community settings.
Nanci holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University, a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from Florida State University. Her principal teachers include Frank Morelli and Jeffrey Keesecker.