Peter Kolkay

{{Short description|American bassoonist}}

Peter Kolkay is an American bassoonist. In 2002, he was awarded First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition,{{cite web |title=Concert Artists Guild Winners Archive |url=http://www.concertartists.org/competition-winners |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=concertartists.org}} and was the recipient of a 2004 Avery Fisher Career Grant.{{cite web|title=Avery Fisher Career Grant Winners|url=http://www.aboutlincolncenter.org/programs/program-avery-fisher-artist-program/the-avery-fisher-career-grants|website=Lincoln Center website}}

Kolkay is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center{{cite web|title=Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Artist Biography|url=http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/artists/artist/peter_kolkay|website=CMS Lincoln Center}} and the IRIS Orchestra{{cite web|title=IRIS Orchestra Musicians – Peter Kolkay|url=http://irisorchestra.org/peter-kolkay-bassoon-2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806131745/http://irisorchestra.org/peter-kolkay-bassoon-2/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=August 6, 2016|website=IRIS Orchestra}} in Germantown, TN. He serves as Associate Professor of Bassoon at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University.{{cite web|title=Vanderbilt Faculty Profile – Peter Kolkay|url=http://blair.vanderbilt.edu/bio/peter-kolkay|website=Blair School of Music website}}

Kolkay has premiered new compositions by:

• Judah Adashi
• Elliott Carter
• Katherine Hoover
• Harold Meltzer
• Russell Platt
• John Fitz Rogers
• Charles Wuorinen

He recently performed the world premiere of Joan Tower's bassoon concerto, Red Maple, with the South Carolina Philharmonic, as well as new work for solo bassoon by Gordon Beeferman in February 2015.

His first solo CD, called BassoonMusic{{cite web|title=PETER KOLKAY, BASSOONMUSIC|url=http://www.concertartists.org/recordings/bassoonmusic|website=CAG Records website |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217023807/https://www.concertartists.org/recordings/bassoonmusic |archive-date=17 February 2013}} was released in 2011 on CAG Records and spotlights works by 21st-century American composers. The BMI Foundation awarded Kolkay the Carlos Surinach Prize for outstanding service to American music by an emerging artist.{{cite web|title=BMI Foundation Announces Carlos Surinach Award Winners|url=http://bmifoundation.org/news/story/bmi_foundation_announces_carlos_surinach_award_winners|website=BMI Foundation website}}

Kolkay holds a doctorate degree from Yale University where he studied with Frank Morelli, and a master's degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he was a student of John Hunt (bassoonist) and Jean Barr. Born in Naperville, IL, Kolkay was awarded a bachelor's degree in 1998 from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, studying with Monte Perkins.