Biography

Amber Ferenz is a nonbinary and queer bassoonist, visual artist, and award-winning composer and arranger. Inspired deeply by the beauty, magic and mystery of the natural world, they often write pieces that weave together melodies and healing songs given by Nature with their own musical ideas. They also delight in tackling emotionally challenging material, and feel that their music serves as a catalyzing vehicle for the universal energies of transformation, catharsis, and healing.

Amber composes for orchestra and chamber ensembles. Their most recent compositions include “Stand UP!”, commissioned by Dr. Lorraine Duso-Kitts as an anti-bullying piece; “Clown Car”, commissioned by the Mississippi Arts Council; “Rarely Seen”, a wind trio commissioned by Terry Ashley featuring endangered plants and trees of NC and GA; “The Things We Say to Death” for the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, honoring all those who endured loss during Hurricane Helene in 2024; “Ad Astra Per Aspera” for the NY-based chamber group Chrystallum, which honors the aeronautical achievements of Lt. Col (ret.) Eileen Collins; “Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra”, which received its World Premiere with the Western Piedmont Symphony in Hickory, NC on May 16, 2024, with the composer as the featured soloist; and “Burn It Down!”, a bassoon trio with piano, commissioned by the Paul family, which delves into sacred female rage.

They are a founding member of Elektra Winds, Queen City Winds, and the bassoon and viola collective Voices In the Wood. They have been second bassoonist with the Asheville Symphony for more than 15 years. They have been the Camp Coordinator for the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp since 2007. TrevCo Music publishes Amber’s entire wind music catalogue in the U.S., and in Europe their works are published by Accolade and Emerson. Some of their works can be heard on the PARMA and MSR labels, and on the albums by Voices In the Wood.