Faculty Portrait

Contact Information

Name: Dr. David A. Wells

Title: Lecturer—Bassoon and Music History

Email: david.wells@csus.edu

Education : DMA, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Courses Taught : Applied Music - Bassoon, Survey of Music Literature, Basic Music

Profile

Dr. David A. Wells teaches bassoon and music history at Sacramento State, and plays both modern and period instruments in a wide variety of ensembles and styles. On modern bassoon, he freelances with orchestras throughout Northern California, collaborates with colleagues in chamber groups, and plays with the swing sextet Hot Club Faux Gitane. On Baroque, Classical, and Romantic-era bassoons, he has recently performed with the American Bach Soloists, the Musica Redemptor Orchestra (Austin, TX), the Pacific Baroque Orchestra (Vancouver, BC), Sinfonia Spirituosa, the Sacramento Baroque Soloists, Capella Antiqua, and at the Carmel Bach Festival.

Wells serves as Co-Executive Director for Meg Quigley, an organization focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion within the bassoon world. He is also active as a music scholar, having presented papers at the conferences of the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, and the International Double Reed Society. Wells holds both a D.M.A. in Bassoon Performance and an M.A. in Musicology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and also studied at Florida State University and Arizona State University. His principal teachers include Jeffrey Lyman, Jeff Keesecker, and Marc Vallon. When not playing or teaching, he can be found swimming, taking photographs, collecting records, and trying to keep up with his super-librarian/uber-yogi wife, Veronica. For more, see davidawells.com.