Katherine St.John
Principal Bassoon
Katherine St.John has been a member of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra bassoon section since 1992 and has been Acting Principal Bassoon since fall of 2009. In addition to performing with the CSO, Kathy plays chamber music with many of her friends, teaches talented young bassoonists throughout the Charleston area and taught for several years at CSU as Adjunct Professor of Bassoon. One of her performance highlights is performing a Vivaldi concerto with Charles Wadsworth at the harpsichord keyboard in The Dock Street Theatre for the Spoleto Festival Chamber Music Series.
Kathy grew up in Atlanta, GA 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 an unprecedented 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, Sarasota Chamber Music Festival and the New Southwest Orchestra.
Kathy is married to frequent audience member and her biggest fan Michael St.John, an Electrical Engineer from GA Tech with two teenage children. "Kashew" (as she’s called by her many 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.