Hailed for her virtuosity and vibrant musical spirit, bassoonist Eleni Katz has established herself as a prominent soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. Her “thoughtful and expressive” approach to music making has led her to performances by the bright blue waters of Bermuda to the lights of Carnegie Hall (San Diego Union Tribune). Eleni is a winner of the 2022 Concert Artist Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Nu Deco Ensemble, the Jupiter Chamber Players, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Sarasota Orchestra, and as a member with the New World Symphony.

As a classically trained singer from Iowa City, Katz has always believed that the bassoon should emulate the organic nature of the human voice and her approach to playing the bassoon has been described as “uncannily human” (The Royal Gazette). In 2021, she commissioned and premiered “Sea Glass Partita for Singing Bassoonist” with composer Lila Meretzky. Drawing its lyrics from a poem that Eleni composed, the piece intersperses bassoon performance with singing and visual projections. Since the performance of this work, Eleni has commissioned several other works for bassoon that are multidisciplinary experiences by Tanner Porter, Harry Castle, and Richard Brasseale. On May 31st, 2024 Eleni Katz co-released an album of  Richard Brasseale’s composition Enlaced Friendship. A piece based off of Eleni’s original poetry and premiered at the New World Symphony in April of 2023.

Eleni’s season highlights and recent performance appearances include La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Series, Lake George Music Festival, Newport Classical, Ibagué Festival in Columbia, a tour with the Concert Truck in Thousand Oaks, CA, Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, the Emerald Coast Festival, Chatter ABQ, Dame Myra Hess Series, The Bermuda Festival, Music Academy of the West, Death of Classical: The Crypt Sessions, Phoenix Chamber Music Society, and Spoleto Festival USA. She was a semifinalist in the Meg Quigley Vivaldi competition in 2019, an international concerto competition for young women bassoon players.

Eleni received her B.M. at the University of Wisconsin’s Mead Witter School of Music under Marc Vallon. She earned her master’s degree at the Yale School of Music, studying with Frank Morelli, where was the winner of the Yale Philharmonia’s 2019 Concerto Competition.

Professional development activities for Eleni Katz are generously supported by Susan MacEachron.