Bassoonist Samuel Watson has joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Samuel Watson has joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as contrabassoonist. A Texas native, Watson succeeds former contrabassoonist Gregg Henegar, whose 30-year tenure with the BSO lasted from 1992 to 2022. Watson will first perform with the BSO during the opening night of the 2023–24 season on October 5, featuring works by Beethoven, Mozart, Arturs Maskats, and Richard Strauss. He previously held similar positions with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and has worked with conductors including JoAnn Falletta, Ruth Reinhardt, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Marin Alsop, and Robert Spano. Watson studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His principal teachers were Barrick Stees, assistant principal bassoonist of the Cleveland Orchestra, and Jonathan Sherwin, contrabassoonist of the Cleveland Orchestra. Watson, who joins the orchestra at age 20, will replace violinist Takumi Taguchi as the youngest current member of the BSO. The youngest orchestra member in the BSO’s history was Robert Voisin, who joined the trumpet section in 1935 at age 17. The next-youngest members, Norman Bolter, Ronald Feldman, and now, Watson, all joined the orchestra at age 20.
