Mauricio Paez
Bassoonist Mauricio Paez, born in Costa Rica, is one of the most versatile Israeli musicians, as a concert artist, chamber music player and a teacher. His students hold positions in major orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic.
Mr. Paez is a founding member of the New Israeli Woodwind Quintet, holds the principal bassoon position at the Israel Camerata-Jerusalem. He is Bassoon teacher and head of the Wind and Percussion Department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and at the Buchman-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv.
Mr. Paez has appeared as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Bogota Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, Belgrade Philharmonic, and the Israel-Camerata Jerusalem, with which he has toured internationally since 1998.
At the age of seventeen he was offered the principal bassoon position at the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. Since then he has held principal positions with the Israel Sinfonietta, the Israel Camerata-Jerusalem, as Guest Principal with the Israel Philharmonic and as Principal Bassoonist at the New Israeli Opera (Rishon LeZion Orchestra), playing under the batons of conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Yoel Levy, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado.