JEFF KEESECKER is currently Professor of Bassoon at Florida State University, performs as Principal Bassoonist with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, and holds the Paul W. and Phyllis G. Runge Principal Bassoon Chair with the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra. He is a Valade Fellow at the Interlochen Arts Camp (Michigan), is the Bassoon Mentor of the National Music Festival (Maryland), and performs with The Dorian Consort Trio and the Opperman Reed Trio.

Prior to his appointment at FSU he was a member of the Florida Orchestra in Tampa and taught at the University of South Florida. He has been principal bassoonist with the Florida West Coast Symphony (now the Sarasota Orchestra), the St. Gallen Sinfonie (Switzerland), and Solisti New York. He spent multiple summers with the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival (Asheville, North Carolina), the Animas Music Festival (Durango, Colorado) and the Utah Music Festival. He has a solo CD, with pianist Helene Grimaud, entitled Bassoon Music of the Americas and in 2003 gave the World Premiere of Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Bassoon and Wind Ensemble.

A native of Sarasota, Florida, he first studied bassoon with Trevor Cramer. He received a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance at Florida State University, studying with William Winstead, and a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Steven Maxym. He participated in the Aspen, Waterloo, and Sarasota Music Festivals, in the National Repertory Orchestra, and in the New York String Orchestra Seminar.