• President
• Vice President
• Secretary

• Bassoon
• Contrabassoon

Welcome to the Southwest! My name is Cayla Bellamy (she/her), and I currently serve as Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Colorado State University and bassoonist with the Colorado Bach Ensemble. My experiences as an educator in both K-12 and collegiate environments and as a performer in solo, chamber, and symphonic settings have led me to believe wholeheartedly in the power of community and well-intentioned organizations to better our field. I have previously worked closely with the former Midwest Double Reed Society and the International Double Reed Society in a staff capacity, and I am thrilled at the opportunity to have a more direct impact in providing opportunities to students, performers, teachers, and avocational players in my home double reed region. The Southwest is a region of great geographical and cultural diversity, and I hope to help create events, resources, and opportunities that are meaningful to the wide array of double reed enthusiasts in our part of the country.

Dr. Cayla Bellamy is a performer, collaborator, and pedagogue dedicated to advancing the music field through redefining standard practices in the bassoon studio and chamber ensemble settings. She currently serves as Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Colorado State University, where she teaches applied bassoon, chamber music, and instrumental and virtual pedagogy, in addition to directing the New Music Ensemble and performing regularly with the Colorado Bach Ensemble.

As a bassoonist and advocate for new music, Cayla began a performance series in 2019 to present modern concerti by Joan Tower, Libby Larsen, James Stephenson, Mathieu Lussier, and Dana Wilson. This series continued this academic year with Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate’s Ghost of the White Deer and Jenni Brandon’s Orion Double Concerto for oboe, bassoon, and band. She recently received an invitation from the International Double Reed Society to perform Joan Tower’s Red Maple on the opening concerto concert at the global conference in July 2024. Her debut album, Double or Nothing (2018), consists of premiere recordings for solo and duo bassoon. Recordings from this album earned her first honorable mention in the 2020 Ernst Bacon Prize for the Performance of American Music, and her second project, a collection of new compositions for bassoon titled American Bassoon Voices including works by CSU faculty Kevin Poelking and composition student Jalen Jamal, released in fall 2023. Live recital recordings from this album’s collection earned her First Honorable Mention in the 2023 American Prizes for both Instrumental Performance and the Performance of American Music.

Cayla is also the co-founder of SoundCraftEd, an organization creating educational and performance materials for all musicians. Offstage, she is an amateur endurance athlete with academic research focusing on coaching methodologies, burnout, and the intersections of artistic and athletic training. Learn more at www.caylabellamy.com.