Rate My Professor Benjamin Coelho

Benjamin Coelho is Professor of Bassoon at The University of Iowa School of Music within Arts and Culture, a position he has held since 1998. Born in Tatuí, Brazil—known as Brazil's "City of Music"—he began studying bassoon at age ten at the Tatuí Conservatory of Music with Clóvis Franco. Coelho earned a B.F.A. with honors from the Purchase Conservatory of Music (State University of New York at Purchase) in three and a half years, an M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music studying with Arthur Weisberg and Donald MacCourt, and pursued additional graduate work at Indiana University with Kim Walker. Prior to the University of Iowa, he served as Professor of Bassoon and elected Vice-Dean at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, for seven years.

At the University of Iowa, Coelho has undertaken significant administrative responsibilities, serving in four different associate director positions within the School of Music for sixteen years, as Interim Director during the 2018-2019 academic year, and currently as Associate Director of Graduate Studies. He holds the position of Vice-President of the International Double Reed Society. A dynamic performer, Coelho has appeared as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, teacher, and clinician across fifteen countries on five continents. He is Principal Bassoonist with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Voxman Reed Trio. An advocate for new music, he has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works by Latin American, American, and European composers, releasing seven CDs praised by critics, including Bassoon Images from the Americas (Albany Records, 2003), Bravura Bassoon (Crystal Records, 2005), Pas de Trois (Crystal Records, 2006), Explorations (MSR Classics, 2007), Dreaming in Colours (MSR Classics, 2011), Francis Poulenc: Complete Music for Winds and Piano (MSR Classics, 2015), and Portraits in Music: Music for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano (MSR Classics, 2018). His scholarly articles on bassoon repertoire, notably "Francisco Mignone and the Sixteen Waltzes for Solo Bassoon," appear in the International Double Reed Society Journal, British Double Reed Society Journal, and German ROHRBLATT. Coelho's students have gained admission to top graduate programs and secured professional positions in orchestras, universities, and music education worldwide. He received a University of Iowa International Programs International Travel Award to perform, teach, and adjudicate in Guatemala.