Bio

Joey Lavarias is a bassoonist and educator currently based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Starting Fall 2025, he will be the Assistant Teaching Professor of Bassoon at Ball State University. Joey was previously Applied Instructor of Bassoon at North Carolina State University and Adjunct Music Faculty at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and UNC-Greensboro, specializing in music theory and aural skills.

      As an active freelancer in North Carolina, Joey most recently held the 2nd bassoon position with the Durham Symphony Orchestra in Durham, NC from 2022 to 2025, and is a founding member of the Cardinal Sound Collective, a woodwind quartet based in Greensboro. He also previously held the 2nd bassoon position in the Billings Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Montana. Other orchestral performances include concerts with the Greensboro Symphony, North Carolina Opera, Charlotte Symphony, Asheville Symphony, and Western Piedmont Symphony. He has made concert appearances across the world, in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Royal Albert Hall. Joey has performed at the New York String Orchestra Seminar, National Orchestral Institute (where he recorded a Grammy-nominated album w/ the NOI Philharmonic), Miami Summer Music Festival, Alba Music Festival in Italy, and has participated in seminars led by the Cleveland Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony. He has been featured on radio and television programs such as CBS Sunday Morning and the 2019 BBC Proms.

Joey is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, studying with Dr. Michael Burns. He is the recipient of a UNCG Graduate Fellowship and was designated as a Minerva Scholar, two of the university’s highest academic honors. He received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School in New York City, studying under Dr. Frank Morelli. At Juilliard, Joey was a recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Graduate Fellowship, and was also a Teaching Fellow for the Ear Training Department. Other teachers include Dr. Ashley Heintzen, former bassoon professor at Stetson University in Florida. He has participated in masterclasses led by Billy Short, Kristin Wolfe Jensen, and Barrick Stees.

    Outside of music, Joey is on the competitive trivia circuit. He is a mainstay in some of the top trivia leagues in the country, and appeared on the game show Jeopardy! in March of 2022, on the 58th Anniversary episode. Joey is loves watching minor league baseball. But in all honesty, he’s more a fan of the mascots that cheer the teams on and pester the crowds. So much so, he’s become a professional mascot performer himself, bringing characters to life for some baseball teams in the Central North Carolina area.