Willard Somers Elliot


Willard Somers Elliot was an American bassoonist and composer. He was the bassoonist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, bassoonist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, principal bassoonist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and principal bassoonist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Elliot composed and twice performed the Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under conductors Seiji Ozawa and Jean Martinon.
During his 32 uninterrupted years as principal bassoonist with the Chicago Symphony, Elliot performed as a soloist under Sir Georg Solti, Seiji Ozawa, Jean Martinon, Antonio Janigro, Carlo Maria Giulini, Morton Gould, Lawrence Foster, and Claudio Abbado. He recorded the Mozart Concerto for Deutsche Grammophon, conducted by Abbado.
Elliot was also a member of the Chicago Symphony Chamber Wind Players, Chicago Symphony Winds and the Chicago Pro Musica, which won a Grammy Award in 1986 for the Best New Classical Artist.

Selected compositions

† Student of Vincent Pezzi, Sanford Sharoff, Bernard Rogers

Other positions

  1. Kurt Weill, Suite from The Three-Penny Opera
  2. Sir William Walton, Facade Suite
  3. Richard Strauss, Hasenöhrl, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
  4. Igor Stravinsky, The Soldier's Tale - Suite
  5. Paul Bowles, Music for a Farce
  6. Bohuslav Martinů, La Revue de Cuisine
  7. Alexander Scriabin, Willard Elliot, Waltz in A-flat major, Opus 38
  8. Carl Nielsen, Serenata in vano
  9. Edgard Varèse, Octandre
  10. Rimsky-Korsakov, Easily Blackwood, Capriccio Espagnol