Bio

Bassoonist Joey Lavarias is pursuing his 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. 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.

      Joey was a principal bassoonist of the Juilliard Orchestra and Opera for six years, playing under conductors like Marin Alsop, David Robertson, and Alan Gilbert. Joey currently holds the 2nd bassoon position with the Durham Symphony Orchestra in Durham, NC. He also previously held the 2nd bassoon position in the Billings Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Montana. He has also performed with many orchestras around the country, including the Charlotte Symphony, Asheville Symphony, Piedmont Wind Symphony, Chelsea Symphony, Chesapeake Orchestra, and the Bacau Philharmonic of Romania. 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 maintains a strong interest in music theory, with a particular emphasis in Ear Training. He currently sits on the music faculty at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, teaching undergraduate and high School Aural Skills courses. He also is an Adjunct Lecturer for the Music Theory Area at UNC-Greensboro, teaching both Aural Skills and Music Theory. Joey previously worked as a Teaching Assistant in Aural Skills courses at both UNC-Greensboro and Juilliard. He has worked as a guest teaching artist across the country, and has been on the teaching staff at the stArt Summer Arts Intensive of Osceola County, FL, the Central Florida Road to College Workshop, and the Bocal Majority Northern California Summer Camp. 

    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 also a casual sports enthusiast. He mainly enjoys watching sports like figure skating, archery, and diving, but has recently been into watching 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 small sports teams and local businesses in the Central North Carolina area.