Rebekah Heller, bassoon, Artistic Director Emeritus

Praised for her “flair” and “deftly illuminated” performances by The New York Times, bassoonist Rebekah Heller is a uniquely dynamic soloist, collaborative artist, improviser, curator, and educator. Called "an impressive solo bassoonist" by The New Yorker, she is fiercely committed to expanding the modern repertoire for the bassoon. Heller’s professional journey epitomizes a hybrid career path that celebrates robust and diverse interests. Her passion for commissioning and performing new music, coupled with her expertise as a pedagogue, organizational dreamer, fundraiser, and conscientious curator, makes her uniquely positioned to guide early-career artists and arts organizations that seek to forge their own way.

As Artist Director Emeritus and current Member of the Board of Directors of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Rebekah collaboratively steers the evolving long term vision and mission of the organization. Over her decade of service on the staff, Rebekah revolutionized the organization’s individual fundraising program, and helped focus the group’s artistic season planning around key partnerships and initiatives that would center socially engaged programming and on working policies and practices that maximized performer agency.

As Bassoonist of the Ensemble since 2008, Rebekah has premiered hundreds of new works by an incredibly diverse group of creators on stages the world over. She has been an unceasing advocate for the bassoon as a solo instrument, and is fiercely committed to expanding the modern repertoire for the instrument. 

Rebekah made her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic in September 2018, playing the music of longtime ICEensemble collaborator Ash Fure, and has been a soloist with the Seattle Symphony, the Nagoya Philharmonic, and the New World Symphony, among others. 

Rebekah joined the faculty of the College of Performing Arts (CoPA) and The Mannes School of Music at The New School in the fall of 2019. She leads a bassoon studio, coaches chamber music, and teaches classes in creative producing and socially engaged artistry at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. She recently led a week-long intensive online program for young artists called “Finding Your Path” and served as part of the team that developed a new core curriculum for The New School’s CoPA. 

Rebekah is passionate about speaking with young artists and organizations about how to create a robust and fulfilling career and has partnered with many organizations around the country including The New World Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Ensemble Connect, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Manhattan School of Music. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Contemporary Ensemble, and serves on the advisory board of Sound American.

Before joining ICEensemble, Rebekah served as Principal Bassoonist of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in the 2008-2009 season, and was a member of The New World Symphony and the Chicago Civic Orchestra. 

She studied at the University of Texas at Austin and the Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, and lives on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.