Michael Harley, Assistant Professor of Bassoon, teaches applied bassoon, theory, and ear training.  A graduate of Goshen College and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he is currently finishing a D.M.A. at the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the Performer’s Certificate.  His teachers include John Hunt, William Winstead, and Wendy Rose.

A proponent of contemporary music, Mr. Harley is a founding member of the acclaimed chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound, called “the future of classical music” by the New York Times.  AWS was honored at the 2006 ASCAP Concert Music Awards “for the virtuosity, passion, and commitment with which they perform and champion the repertory for the 21st century.”  With AWS, Mr. Harley has worked directly with some of today’s most accomplished composers and performers, including John Adams, Augusta Read Thomas, Aaron Jay Kernis, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, Derek Bermel, and David Lang.  He has played in diverse venues across the country, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall (Cal Performances Series), Boston’s Gardner Museum, and New York’s famed nightclub, The Roxy, and done residencies and master classes at schools including Duke, Harvard, M.I.T., New York University, the University of North Carolina at Greensborough, and Western Michigan University.

Other groups and festivals Mr. Harley has performed with include the Lucca Festival Orchestra (Lucca, Italy), where he was a featured soloist, the Kent Blossom Music Festival with the Cleveland Orchestra, and the orchestras of Columbus, Dayton, Fort Wayne, and South Bend.  As a recitalist, events at which he has performed include the Cantilena Concerts Series at the Columbus Museum of Art, the Aeolian Concert Series at the Troy-Hayner Center in Troy, OH, the 2005 and 2006 International Double Reed Conferences. 

Mr. Harley previously served on the faculties of Wright State University, Goshen College, and Valparaiso University.  He lives in Columbus with his wife, Jennifer, a flutist with the Columbus Symphony, and daughters Ella and Lucia.