Jack Peña is joining the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as Principal Bassoon for the 2020-2021 season. Although on leave for the year, he also holds the Principal Bassoon position of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans, a chair he has held since 2016. Born and raised in Carrollton, Texas, Jack began playing music at age eleven, finally focusing on the bassoon at fourteen. Since then, he has performed with the St. Paul, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Toronto symphonies. In 2013, The New York Times hailed him for his “deft solo work” in performances at Carnegie Hall.

An active soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Peña frequently performs with various ensembles in Louisiana, including the New Orleans Chamber Players. His most recent engagement as a soloist with the Louisiana Philharmonic was postponed due to the 2020 pandemic. Other than the LPO, he has appeared as a soloist with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra and Colburn Conservatory Orchestra.

His summers have been spent as a member of the Lakes Area Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival and Sunflower Music Festival as well as holding fellowships at the Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, Spoleto Festival USA, and Aspen Music Festival and School.

Jack received his undergraduate degree in 2015 from the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles where he studied with Richard Beene. His other teachers include Benjamin Kamins and Hermann Vogelstein.