About

Michael McCraw, bassoon

Bassoonist Michael McCraw is a native North Carolinian and a 1969 graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts. He lived in New York City from 1969-79, was an active free-lance bassoonist and a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In the mid 1970's his interest in early music was encouraged by his colleagues at the City College of NY, where he both studied and taught and he became one of the most important of the "pioneers" in the field of baroque performance with period instruments, performing with virtually every period instrument ensemble in the US. Mr. McCraw moved to Cologne, Germany in 1979 and between 1979 and 1991, he performed with such ensembles as Musica Antique Koeln, Concentus Musicus Wien, London Baroque and was a co-founder of the ensemble Camerata Koeln. He became principal bassoonist in Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in 1991, a position he held until until 2002. Michael is cited in the latest edition of the Groves Dictionary as one of the most important early bassoon players and pedagogues of our time, and his nearly 150 recordings include a CD of Vivaldi bassoon concerti with Seattle Baroque hailed as "number one for Vivaldi bassoon, with no reservations!" by the American Record Guide. He is currently professor and director of the Early Music Insitute at Indiana University and continues to free-lance in the US, Canada, and Europe.

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