Biography
"...Shannon Lowe shines her warm instrument in quite a different light...she phrases her long lyrical lines so that they not only sing but breathe with the gorgeous tone of a high baritone..." American Record Guide
Dr. Shannon Lowe is the Assistant Professor of Bassoon and Aural Skills at the University of Florida. Before her arrival at UF, she served as Associate Professor of Bassoon in the Department of Music at Valdosta State University. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Bassoon Performance at SUNY Stony Brook, where she studied with the renowned performer and pedagogue Dr. Frank Morelli. She received her Bachelor of Music Education degree with a Performer's Certificate as well as her Master of Music in Bassoon Performance degree from the University of Florida, under Dr. Arnold Irchai and Dr. Kim Woolly.
An avid and active chamber musician, Dr. Lowe performs in several chamber groups in the southeast. Recently, along with her clarinetist husband Peter Geldrich, she formed the Geldrich-Lowe Duo. In July of 2018, the duo was a featured performance group at the International Clarinet Association’s Clarinetfest in Ostend, Belgium. Furthermore, the Geldrich-Lowe duo has teamed up with pianist Joshua Pifer to form a trio, and over the past year have performed their program titled "All Combinations" at the University of Arizona, Valdosta State University, the University of Florida, and the Auburn Museum of Fine Arts. Dr. Lowe is also a member of the Anon Ensemble, a flute, viola, and bassoon trio. The the ensemble was featured in an online premiere of Eva Kendrick's “Juntos” at the 20th Anniversary Congress of the International Alliance of Women in Music (IAWM). Kendrick's “Juntos” was the recipient of the Judith Lang Zaimont Prize for the IAWM 2014 New Music Search. She is a founding member of the Scirocco Quartet which has performed to high praise throughout the southeast and southwest. The group was featured ensemble at the National Flute Association Conference, Florida Flute Convention, and Symphony at the Museum Series in Albany, Georgia. She is also a member of the American Chamber Winds, an acclaimed chamber music group led by Dr. David Waybright that has performed in numerous concert tours across Europe and Brazil.
Dr. Lowe has performed the Mozart and Beethoven quintets for piano and winds in addition to Peter Winkler's "Gili's Music for bassoon and cello" at the 2019 International Double Reed Society Conference. Past performances include a chamber music recital with VSU’s Azalea String Quartet at the 2016 IDRS Conference in Columbus, Georgia and with the Ragin’ Reeds Quartet at the 2015 IDRS Conference in Tokyo, Japan. In January 2021, she was honored to be an invited performer for the 2021 Meg Quigley Virtual Bassoon Symposium, during which she had her video performance of Dr. Elizabeth Goode's "Rongbuk for bassoon and piano" shared during an evening concert series.
Dr. Lowe has participated in the Sarasota Music Festival and International Music Festival in Burgos, Spain. Also, she has performed at the prestigious Campos do Jordão International Music Festival (Brazil). She has premiered contemporary works for the bassoon at the Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival as well as the Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festival in Richmond, Virginia. Additionally, Dr. Lowe has been a featured soloist with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra on Mozart's Bassoon Concerto and recently performed as bassoon soloist in Michael Daugherty’s "Dead Elvis" with both with the Albany (GA) Symphony Orchestra and UF New Music Ensemble.
Currently, Dr. Lowe is the principal bassoonist of the Albany (GA) Symphony Orchestra. She has played in preeminent orchestras of the southeast such as the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Sinfonia Gulf Coast, and Macon Symphony. For six seasons, she was principal bassoonist of the Gainesville Chamber Orchestra and for eight seasons served as principal bassoonist in the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, 2014 recipient of the American Prize for Best Community Orchestra.
Dr. Lowe has proudly been a part of several commissioning consortiums for new bassoon works. Most recently she commissioned a work for bassoon and string quintet from the French composer Alexis Ciesla and was part of a commission consortium for John Steimetz's Bassoon Concerto (2019). Past commission consortiums include Sunny Knable's "The Busking Bassoonist" and Gregory Wanamaker's "Echoes of Melancholy."
Dr. Lowe is passionate about presenting clinics for music educators and bassoonists with the intent of sharing tips, techniques, and triumphs for successful bassoon playing. She presented an interactive clinic on teaching beginning bassoonists at the 2019 Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois, which included a crash course for music educators in starting bassoonists culminating in a demo session with volunteers learning to play the bassoon in just 10 minutes. Over the past several years, she has been a co-presenter in a clinic titled “Be Not Afraid! Double Reeds Made Accessible: A Quick Start Session for Music Educators” at both the Georgia and Florida Music Educators Association Conferences. Her article “Venting on the Bassoon” can be found published in The Instrumentalist Magazine. In October 2020, Dr. Lowe released her debut album "A Musical Bouquet: Old, New and Borrowed Works for Bassoon and Strings" on the MSR Classics Label.
Dr. Lowe serves as the Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies' Triennial Graduate Performance Awards Director. Recently, she joined the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Bassoon Symposium team as co-vendor coordinator. Dr. Lowe is a Fox Bassoon Artist.
On a side note, she is one of the few bassoonists, if not only one, to have performed the exposition of Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto for the captain (over speakerphone), crew, and passengers at over 30,000 feet on a late night Southwestern Airlines flight from NY to Florida.