Meet Ben Roidl-Ward | Bassoonist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ben Roidl-Ward and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ben, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
I think that most people don’t realize how much daily work and commitment it takes to play Classical music at a high level. There is this perception that musicians have a special “talent” that they get to show off every time they are on stage–this is true to a certain extent, but all of the talent in the world isn’t worth much without the daily disciplined work that it takes to reach and maintain a high level of playing. What you see on stage is only a snapshot of the weeks of preparation that go into each performance and a lifetime of dedication to an art form.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I am a musician who wears a lot of different hats: I teach bassoon at the University of Northern Iowa, I perform with Ensemble Dal Niente (a Chicago-based contemporary music ensemble), the Chicago Sinfonietta, and the Illinois Symphony, I organize and perform in a number of solo and chamber music projects that focus on performing new music, and I’m part of a team that curates, teaches, and performs at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. Ever since I was a teenager, it was my dream to make a living playing music, and getting to do that in such a variety of settings and styles makes me really grateful.

The thing that is most motivating and exciting to me is working with living composers to create a new repertoire that pushes what I’m able to do on my instrument. The bassoon is one of the more obscure orchestral instruments, and we don’t have the same depth and breadth of repertoire that many other instruments do. I want to change that. I’m especially interested in music that embraces stylistic and aesthetic radicality. I wrote my doctoral dissertation about multiphonics (techniques that allow you to play multiple notes at once on instruments that usually only produce one note at a time), and I love to work with composers to better understand those sounds and to integrate them into pieces in ways that present interesting musical opportunities. I recently released my first solo album, which includes six pieces that do this in really inventive ways, and I’m really proud of that project.

I wouldn’t say that it was easy to get where I am today–it has taken a lot of hard work, determination, and mental toughness. But I have had a lot of help along the way from my teachers and my family, friends, colleagues, and students. At the end of the day, making music is about connecting with people, and it has brought me close to the quirkiest, most brilliant, most interesting people I could imagine. They give me the inspiration and the motivation to keep going, to keep experimenting, and to pursue the highest level in everything that I do.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Chicago is my favorite city in the world. It has so much to offer, no matter what it is that you’re looking for. Each neighborhood in the city has its own history and character, and I still feel like I have so much to discover. I’ve always lived on the north side near the lake, so these answers are biased in that direction. Assuming that I had a friend visiting who had never been to Chicago before, there are certain essentials that you have to cover–the Art Institute, the Chicago Symphony, deep dish pizza (at Pequod’s). Once those bases were covered, I’d try to take my friend to some cool shows in the contemporary music scene. Constellation is a must for interesting music of all kinds, and we might also check out Elastic Arts, the Hungry Brain, Experimental Sound Studio, or whichever other venue had something interesting going on at the time. Hopefully, it would be summertime so that we could spend an afternoon at Loyola beach playing frisbee and grilling. In addition to deep dish, I’d take my friend to a few of my other favorite spots (I’m a vegetarian, so all of these places have great veggie options): Tweet for brunch, Gareeb Nawaz for amazing Indian food at any hour, Ethiopian Diamond, the Chicago Diner. And, of course, we can’t forget the great Chicago cash-only bars. My favorites (in order) are Cuneen’s, Big Chicks, and Double Bubble.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
As a classical musician, I took weekly private lessons for 15 years–from middle school to the end of my graduate degrees. I’ve had four major teachers, and each of them had a tremendous impact on me as a person and as a musician. I’d like to shout out my first teacher, Francine Peterson, who taught me for 7 years in middle school and high school. She taught me so much about music, hard work, resilience, and professionalism. There is no way that I could make a living as a musician today without the guidance and support she gave me.

Website: www.benroidlward.com

Instagram: @benroidlward

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ben.roidlward/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJne20ryf4RgGQVrg_Me66Q

Other: https://benroidlward.bandcamp.com/album/axis-mundi-new-works-for-bassoon

Image Credits
Personal Photo: Lynn Lane Additional Photos (in order uploaded): Ben Semisch Todd Rosenberg Banff Center Leigh Webber Forestt Strong LaFave Deidre Huckabay