Woodwinds Area

The woodwinds area at Colorado State University provides talented flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone students with world-class training in the areas of performance and pedagogy. The woodwind experience at CSU enhances our student's passion for music by providing a solid foundation for a lifetime of creative activity. The objectives of the curriculum are to develop professional perceptions and skills in the art of music as it is needed by performers, teachers, therapists, and those interested in other possible careers where a high level of music-making is maintained. Expectation levels are consistent with those of university study in preparation for a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music, and Master of Music. Areas of concentration within these degree programs include music education, music therapy, music performance, composition, and conducting.

 

Study With

Galit Kaunitz

  • Assistant Professor of Music

Galit.Kaunitz@colostate.edu

Cayla Bellamy

  • Associate Professor of Music
  • Coordinator of Woodwinds

Cayla.Bellamy@colostate.edu

Peter Sommer

  • Professor of Music
  • Saxophone

Peter.Sommer@colostate.edu

Michelle Stanley

  • Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies
  • Professor of Music
  • Interim Vice Provost of Undergraduate Affairs

970-491-4350

Michelle.Stanley@colostate.edu

Perform With Us

Spring 2025 Student Recitals / FREE

February 9, 2025 - May 10, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Please join us in celebrating the recital performances of our CSU music students. Student Recitals are FREE and open to the public. Note: Dates, times, and locations are subject to change, please check back to confirm performance details. Thursday, February 13, 2025: 6 p.m., Organ Recital Hall, Otto Huffman, Piano Sunday, February 16, 2025: 5 [...]

Lecture – Music in Need of Some Explanation: Social media as labor in contemporary classical music with professor John Pippen

April 23, 2025 at 5:00 PM
For the past thirty years, social media has been integral to how contemporary classical ensembles made their music valuable. My paper places social media in an ethnographic and historical context to consider how musicians produce value through their labor. In the 2000s, such media fed optimistic narratives of musicians as people doing what they loved, in a sense not “working” at all. I argue that musicians use social media to create “production-tracking use values.”

All Choral Showcase: Unclouded Day

April 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Unclouded Day On the final showcase of the year, the Chamber Choir, conducted by Dr. James Kim, performs 20th- century masterpieces, including Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choir and William Walton's Cantico del Sole. The Concert Choir, conducted by Dr. Nathan Payant, features works by American composers, including Shawn Kirchner, Florence Price, Reena Esmail, and [...]

Student Chamber Music Recital / FREE

April 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
The concert performed by undergraduate music majors and minors features music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms, and Antonin Dvořák.

Wind Symphony Concert: The Road is Life

April 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM
The Road is Life The Wind Symphony, directed by Dr. Rebecca Phillips, finishes the season with a celebration of music at CSU! Guest conductors include first year conducting master's students David Davis and Cameron Honnen performing cornerstone repertoire in the wind band medium. Second year conducting master’s student James Mepham conducts his final performance at [...]

CSU Percussion Ensemble Festival Concert / FREE

April 26, 2025 at 6:00 PM
This concert features the CSU Percussion Ensemble and a presentation of awards to the Percussive Arts Society Percussion Ensemble Festival participating ensembles.

Saxophone Studio Recital / FREE

April 27, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Students of saxophone professors Peter Sommer and Dr. Dan Goble present a recital of solo and chamber works for saxophone, including classic and contemporary literature featuring a dynamic range of expression and musical interplay.

Virtuoso Series Concert: Faculty Chamber Music

April 28, 2025 at 7:30 PM
The CSU Music faculty present a program that includes works for various groupings of instruments and voices, including Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quartet, and "Improvisation on a Blue Theme" by Canadian and Grammy-winning composer John Thrower.

Jazz Ensembles Concert: Roy Haynes Legacy Concert

April 29, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Jazz Ensembles I and II present a concert dedicated to the legacy of great jazz drummer, Roy Haynes who passed away in November 2024, just short of his 100th birthday. The program, directed by Wil Swindler and Darren Kramer, includes music associated with Haynes and other pieces that honor his life in jazz.

Double Reed Studio Recital / FREE

May 4, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Students of the oboe and bassoon studios of Dr. Galit Kaunitz and Dr. Cayla Bellamy perform solo, and ensemble works written from the 1600s to the present day.

CSU World Percussion Ensemble Festival Concert

May 4, 2025 at 6:00 PM
The concert features percussion music from several parts of the world, including a Mexican Marimba band, Brazilian Ensemble, Civil War Rope Drum Ensemble, Ragtime Novelty Band, and a Steel Drum band.

Trombone Studio Recital / FREE

May 4, 2025 at 7:30 PM
An evening of solo and chamber music that highlights the trombone in a variety of musical settings. This recital features undergraduate and graduate students from the trombone studio under the guidance and coaching of Dr. Drew Leslie, associate professor of trombone.

Concert Orchestra Concert: Master of Tuplets (Bach’s Revenge) / FREE

May 6, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Master of Tuplets (Bach’s Revenge) What do Baroque music and Heavy Metal have in common? Find out as the Concert Orchestra integrates music from Baroque and early classical repertoire with selections inspired by heavy metal. After hearing Larry Moore's arrangement of Brandenburg inspired by Black Violin, the orchestra oscillates between the traditional and unexpected, including [...]

2025 CSU Percussion Camp

June 2, 2025 - June 3, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Percussion Camp for high school students includes instruction on how to successfully prepare and audition to become a collegiate music major. The workshop focuses on the four primary percussion instruments: Mallets (2 and 4 mallet), Timpani, Snare Drum, and Drum Set as well as insight on applications, scholarships, equipment, and skills in being a college student.

2025 CSU Organ Week

June 8, 2025 - June 13, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Organ Week is designed for high school students interested in expanding (or beginning) their organ study. Led by a faculty of prominent concert and church organists, the program features one-to-one instruction, masterclasses, and recitals on the finest pipe organs in northern Colorado, including CSU’s Casavant organ.

2025 Summer Voice Intensive

June 9, 2025 - June 13, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Spend a week honing your craft on the beautiful CSU campus!  Auditioned students will perform a solo in our beautiful Recital Hall. Participants will also take voice lessons with CSU faculty, and participate in workshops, masterclasses, and talkbacks, including 'Conquering the College Audition.'

2025 CSU Jazz Summer Workshop

June 11, 2025 - June 13, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Join CSU Jazz Faculty Wil Swindler, Peter Sommer, Dr. Seth Lewis, and Tom Amend for our second annual CSU Jazz Summer Workshop. The workshop will run 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day focusing on small group jazz playing and improvisation. Students will also study Jazz history and listening, Jazz theory, and attend instrument-specific masterclasses. Full schedule details will be released after registration closes.

2025 Colorado Harp Seminar

June 15, 2025 - June 21, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Colorado Harp Seminar is a one-week intensive harp program for high school and undergraduate pedal harpists. Directed by faculty member Kathryn Harms at Colorado State University, it is designed to support, nurture, and inspire excellent musicianship. In addition to private lessons, students will participate in harp ensemble, masterclasses, and workshops on various topics such as [...]

2025 Colorado Harp Seminar

June 21, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Colorado Harp Seminar is a one-week intensive harp program for high school and undergraduate pedal harpists. Directed by faculty member Kathryn Harms at Colorado State University, it is designed to support, nurture, and inspire excellent musicianship. In addition to private lessons, students will participate in harp ensemble, masterclasses, and workshops on various topics such as [...]

2025 Summer Conducting: Seminar for Music Educators

June 27, 2025 - July 12, 2025 at 12:00 AM
The two-and-a-half week conducting seminar (four credits each summer) includes daily conducting opportunities in all three disciplines with a workshop orchestra, band and choir, providing further hands-on training. All participants learn to conduct in all three disciplines.

2025 2025 Colorado Kodály Institute: Summer Residency

July 12, 2025 - July 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM
CKI is a dynamic training center for elementary classroom music teachers, independent music instructors, and secondary music teachers interested in elevating their teaching, conducting, musicianship, and depth of knowledge about music education. Students from across the U.S., Mexico, Korea, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia participate in the annual summer seminar.

2024 Colorado Cello Intensive

July 27, 2025 - August 2, 2025 at 12:00 AM
The Colorado Cello Intensive program is designed to maximize technical, musical, and personal growth. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 4:1, the Colorado Cello Intensive (CCI) is dedicated to helping students reach their full potential. We believe in the work hard, play hard mentality and offer students an array of evening possibilities, including hiking, rock climbing, and a trip to Rocky Mountains National Park. Surrounded by the beautiful Rocky Mountains in Fort Collins, Colorado, CCI is the ideal location to develop your playing this summer!

2025 International Keyboard Odyssiad® and Festival, U.S.A.

August 4, 2025 - August 8, 2025 at 12:00 AM
The International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival, U.S.A., is a weeklong summer piano competition and festival featuring more than a dozen guest artists and pianists in daily masterclasses and presentations, the live Semifinal and Final Rounds of the Olympic-styled Odyssiad® competition, and riveting matinee and evening concerts by internationally renowned pianists, including Van Cliburn winners. At the foothills of the majestic Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the International Keyboard Odyssiad® and Festival (IKOF) is designed for pianists of all ages and nationalities, teachers, and the general public who love the piano and its repertoire.

Woodwinds News

2025 Wind Symphony

Colorado State University Wind Symphony to embark on prestigious concert tour of Spain this March

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Bon Voyage Concert Tickets The Colorado State University Wind Symphony is honored to announce its invitation to perform in Spain this March. After receiving acclaim for their recordings, the ensemble has been invited by the “Grenadine Federation of Bands,” led by Oscar Musso, to participate in a collaborative concert tour spanning three major cities: Madrid, […]

International Double Reed Society logo

Dr. Cayla Bellamy elected inaugural president of the Southwest Chapter of the International Double Reed Society

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Dr. Cayla Bellamy elected inaugural president of the Southwest Chapter of the International Double Reed Society

Masters alum, Theresa Lansberry, holds new position with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

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Colorado State University music alum, Theresa Soriano Lansberry (nee Bunger, M.M., ’18), was named artist liaison for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in February. The CSO’s mission is to seek and share inspiration and be the most relevant Orchestra in America.. cincinnatisymphony.org

CSU Music Information Request Form

  • Contact Information

  • Interests

    Would you like to request a complimentary lesson with the professor of your instrument/voice? You will be connected with the appropriate professor, who will be in touch to schedule the lesson (either in-person or virtually, depending on availability and coordination of schedules).