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.