Nicolasa Kuster

Nicolasa Kuster has served on University of the Pacific’s conservatory faculty since 2008. At Pacific, she also serves in academic leadership as associate dean of academic affairs. An active orchestral, chamber, and solo musician, she maintains a wide-ranging performance and teaching career throughout California, across the United States and internationally.

Kuster founded the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Bassoon Symposium, a biennial event supporting young women bassoonists from throughout the Americas and awarding more than $30,000 in prizes.

As a performer, Kuster is principal bassoon of the Stockton Symphony and the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and second bassoon with the Monterey Symphony and the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, having inhabited the role of and acting principal bassoon with each. She performs regularly with orchestras throughout California and beyond. In 2026, she appeared as guest principal bassoon with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Her previous orchestral positions include the Wichita Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic, Rhode Island Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony.

Kuster’s international work has included recent guest artist appearances in Mexico and Panama, concert tours in Kazakhstan and televised performances in Italy. As a soloist with orchestras, her performances include Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Bassoon Concerto at the opening gala of the 2013 International Double Reed Society Conference and Peter Schickele’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra with the Stockton Symphony. She was the recipient of the Chicago Musicians Club of Women’s Farwell Award in 1995 while a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and a student of the late Bruce Grainger, assistant principal bassoon of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Kuster spent six summers performing and recording with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy and can be heard on the Chandos label as principal bassoon in recordings of operas and other works by Gian Carlo Menotti. Her festival and summer teaching activities have included the Anchorage Music Festival, Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Prague, Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop, Marrowstone Music Festival, Bocal Majority and Operation O.B.O.E., and Pacific Music Camp.

A double-degree graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory, Kuster earned a Bachelor of Music in bassoon performance and a Bachelor of Arts in religion, studying bassoon with George Sakakeeny. She first returned to Oberlin as Sakakeeny’s sabbatical replacement in 2002 and returned again in 2025 for a week-long teaching residency. In 2026, she earned the Doctor of Education in organizational change and leadership from the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education. Her doctoral research examined the underrepresentation of women in section leadership positions in major American orchestras.

Kuster’s solo recording, “Metamorphosis,” and additional information about her work can be found at NicolasaKuster.com.