Katherine Schuh St. John
Katherine has been performing as 2nd Bassoonist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra since 1992. In addition to performing with the
CSO, Kathy teaches young bassoonists throughout the Charleston area and taught for several years at CSU as Adjunct Professor of Bassoon. One of her performance highlights was performing a Vivaldi Concerto with Charles Wadsworth
on harpsichord in The Dock Street Theatre during Spoleto.
Kathy grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and received her Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music in Cleveland, Ohio. Her primary
teachers have been George Goslee, Principal Bassoonist of the Cleveland Orchestra for over 45 years, David McGill, Principal Bassoonist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Carl Nitchie, Principal Bassoonist of the Atlanta Symphony.
While still in Ohio, Kathy was Principal Bassoonist of the Canton Symphony for four years before moving to Charleston.
She was Acting Principal Bassoonist with the Akron Symphony for a season and Second Bassoon with Pro Musica, a Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio. In Cleveland she free-lanced as
Principal Bassoon with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Cleveland New Music Association, and the Ohio Ballet. Summer Festivals include The National Repertory Orchestra, The National Orchestral Institute, the Waterloo Music
Festival and the New Southwest Orchestra.
Kathy was recently married and loves being a wife and stepmom to two very musical teenagers. Kashew (as she’s called by her nieces and nephews) enjoys traveling to visit friends and family scattered across the country. She also enjoys gardening (not to be confused with actual lawn work!) making stained glass panels and really dark chocolate..hint hint!