Contrabassoon/Assistant Principal Bassoon

Mark Ortwein is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada. He attended Loyola University in New Orleans for two years, majoring in bassoon and jazz saxophone. He earned a B.M. degree from Boston University in bassoon performance, graduating magna cum laude. While there he was the top woodwind finalist for the Boston Pops Concerto Competition. He joined the United States Air Force Band at March Field in California as a saxophonist and later moved to the Air Force Academy where he was principal bassoon of the USAF Band of the Rockies. In 1998 he began his studies with William Winstead at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music where he earned an M.M. degree. During his career he has performed in a wide variety of musical situations ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Grand Old Opry and MTV. Before joining the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 2002, he was a member of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet and the Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra.

Ortwein is a Yamaha Performing Artists and plays all the saxophones, clarinets, flutes and bassoons. His major bassoon teachers have included Winstead, Matthew Ruggiero, Crawford Best, and Jon Beebe. On saxophone he has studied with Paul McGinley, Garvin Bushell, Craig Yancey, Jeff Barash and John Reilly. In June 2003 he was the featured soloist with John Williams and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Williams’ “Escapades for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra.” Ortwein is an active studio musician and records regularly for a wide variety of clients and musical styles. He and his wife, a cellist/educator, are the parents of a son and a daughter.