About Me

Steve Marsden was born in 1965 in Bury, Lancashire. He began his bassoon studies with Charles Cracknell, principal bassoon with the Halle Orchestra at the ageof ten, first privately and then as a student at the Junior Department at the R.N.C.M. He continued his studies as a pupil at Chetham`s School of Music in Manchester from 1981-1983 with David Chatwin, principal bassoon with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and also in London with Martin Gatt, principal with the LSO. During this time he was awarded the ARCM performers diploma, and also a scholarship to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Martin Gatt and Graham Sheen of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

From 1979 to 1983 he was a member and principal bassoon of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and received the prestigious Lloyds Bank Prize jointly with violinist Anthony Marwood, and in 1984 and 1985 he was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra. Also in 1985 he was a finalist in the Shell/LSO woodwind scholarship, and a prize winner with the British Wind Quintet at the Internationaler Musikwettbewerb, Munich. He left the Guildhall early in February 1986 following his appointment as principal bassoon with the orchestra of Welsh National Opera.

Since joining the WNO he has played as a freelance guest principal with ENO, RLPO, CBSO, BBCNOW, RSNO, RPO, BBC Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra. He has also performed as a soloist on many occasions in concertos by Mozart, Weber, Hummel, Berwald, Vivaldi, Woolfenden, Jacob and Strauss, and is Professor of Bassoon at the Royal Wesh College of Music and Drama. He is regularly engaged as a bassoon and woodwind coach by several Youth Orchestras.

He began making reeds commercially around 1995, and his reeds are in demand all over the world with customers in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and almost every country in the European Union. He also designed and patented the Counter-Balance Seat-Strap which is also used by many players across the world.