Hometown:
Tampa Bay, Florida
Education:
Cleveland Institute of Music, Masters in Bassoon Performance, 2020, John Clouser
University of South Florida, Bachelors in Bassoon Performance, 2018, John Kehayas
Robert and Susan Delaney Chair
Bio:
Brendon Sill has played with orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, and the Charleston Symphony. Having degrees from the University of South Florida and the Cleveland Institute of Music, he returns for another summer with the NRO after playing on their 2021 Season, where he performed in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Solo Winds. Brendon plays on pre-war Heckel bassoon #7507 made in Biebrich, (Wiesbaden) Germany from 1934.
What is something interesting that people may not know about you?
My Fifth Great Grandfather, Charles Morris Sill (or “Mott” as he was called), was a soldier for the Union during the Civil War, and fought alongside General George Meade in Gettysburg, PA. After the war ended, he returned to civilian life as a carpenter to construct and sell boats, and I am in possession of two of his original manual wood planers which I have mounted and framed.
Name three of your favorite composers:
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Henry Purcell, John Dunstable
When taking a break from music-making, what is your favorite thing to do?
Cooking, Oil Painting, and Record Collecting
What are you most looking forward to this summer with the NRO?
Playing with some of the nation’s finest musicians and working with some of the world’s best conductors in gorgeous Breckenridge. Unlike most festivals, we players are both our own best teachers and students, and the National Repertory Orchestra is on a very high-competing level when compared to the USA’s other great orchestras. It really sounds like a professional symphony.