Bassoonist Steve Vacchi holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM/Performer’s Certificate), The Hartt School (MM) and Louisiana State University (DMA). He also studied at the Yale School of Music.  His teachers have included Rebecca Eldredge, Matthew Ruggiero, Bob Reinert, K. David Van Hoesen, Stephen Maxym, Frank Morelli and William Ludwig.  An advocate of contemporary music, he has performed in twenty-three countries and recorded for Argo, BMG Classics, Centaur, NMC, Equilibrium, North Pacific, Sony Classical, 8bells, Edward Hines Music and Imagine Records.  A member of the Oregon Ballet Theatre (Portland), Eugene Opera Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, he has also performed with the Santa Fe ProMusica, Florida Orchestra, Rochester, Tulsa, and Rhode Island Philharmonics, and the Colorado, New Haven, Kansas City, Honolulu, Shanghai, Oregon, Baton Rouge, and Wichita Symphony Orchestras.  Associate Professor of Bassoon at the University of Oregon since 2000, Vacchi was formerly on the faculty of Wichita State University (KS) and the Brevard Music Center (NC).

A member of the Oregon Wind Quintet, he also performs early music on dulcian, Baroque and Classical bassoons. Steve performs with the AnyWhen Ensemble, which specializes in a mixture of improvisation, jazz, and contemporary chamber music sounds. Originally from Portsmouth RI and a graduate of the Portsmouth public schools, he played in the Brown University orchestra, the New Bedford Symphony, the RI Youth Philharmonic, and the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra during high school. In his free time, he enjoys distance swimming, hiking, biking, gardening, and travel.