Biography

Bassoonist Dr. Jacqueline Wilson (Yakama) is an active performer, pedagogue, and collaborator who currently serves as Principal Bassoonist of the Washington Idaho Symphony and Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Washington State University. She regularly presents recitals, masterclasses, and clinics including engagements at the International Double Reed Society Conference, the International Alliance for Women in Music Conference, and the Meg Quigley Bassoon Symposium. As a frequent concerto soloist, Wilson has appeared with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra, the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon East Symphony Orchestra, the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Community Orchestra, and the Ravenna String Orchestra, among others. An eager contributor to the double reed community, Dr. Wilson currently serves as President of the International Double Reed Society.

Wilson’s creative activity centers Native American and Indigenous self-representation and artistic sovereignty through meaningful collaboration and relationality. In this capacity, she has premiered, commissioned, and recorded works by composers Juantio Becenti (Diné), Joy Zickau (Seminole), Michael Begay (Diné), Trevor Reed (Hopi), Connor Chee (Diné), Louis W. Ballard (Quapaw), and Raven Chacon (Diné), among others. These efforts can be heard on her debut album, Works for the Bassoon by Native American Composers, which was selected as SiriusXM’s Symphony Hall Album of the Week and nominated for a Native American Music Award (Best Instrumental, Connor Chee Nocturne for Bassoon and Marimba). Featured on this album is the premiere recording of For Jacqueline Wilson, a work dedicated to Wilson as part of Pulitzer Prize winning composer Raven Chacon’s collection of graphic scores titled, For Zitkála-Šá. She has participated in performances of For Zitkála-Šá at the Whitney Biennial and the Getty Center.

Expansion of this work was supported by a WSU New Faculty Seed Grant in the form of an international Indigenous artistic collaboration with Māori composers Takerei Komene, Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, and Phil Brownlee, the results of which can be heard on her sophomore album, Works for the Bassoon by Māori Composers. In 2022, she received an Artist Trust Fellowship to fund the commissioning of Connor Chee’s Concerto for Bassoon and Strings, a work she premiered, toured, and recorded on her most recent album release Daughter of the Wind: Works for the Bassoon by Native American Composers.

Wilson is also an active composer who was awarded the 2022 PatsyLu Prize for outstanding work by a BIPOC composer in the 41st Search for New Music Competition by the International Alliance for Women in Music for her piece Dance Suite for Solo Bassoon. Her method book, Daily Routines for Bassoon, was published by Mountain Peak Publishing in 2024.