Amanda Swain,

Principal

Amanda is from Friendswood, Texas. In 2012, she became the Principal Bassoonist of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Second Bassoonist of the Houston Ballet Orchestra. She received her BM at the University of Texas at Austin where she studied with Kristin Wolfe Jensen and her MM at Northwestern University where she studied with Christopher Millard. She was the Second Place winner in the 2012 Fernand Gillet-Hugo Fox Bassoon Competition. She was a founding member of the Chicago-based contemporary ensemble The City of Tomorrow, who won the Gold Medal in the Senior Wind Division of the Fischoff Competition in 2011. Other accomplishments include winning First Prize in the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition (2010), being a semi-finalist in the Heida Hermanns International Woodwind Competition (2007), and being selected as an alternate for the Gillet-Fox International Competition for Bassoon (2010). She has been a guest artist, teacher, and speaker at universities and conferences throughout the United States, and she has played with numerous top-level orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, and the Jacksonville Symphony. In addition to having an active performance career, Amanda is passionate about unionism and working hard for musician rights. She has chaired numerous orchestra and negotiating committees, and she is the Vice President of the Regional Orchestra Players’ Association (ROPA). Amanda is a proud member of the Houston Professional Musicians’ Association, Local 65-699, where she serves on the Executive Board.