Michael Harley enjoys a diverse career as a teacher, performer, and music advocate. Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of South Carolina, he also teaches occasional courses in music history and contemporary music, coaches chamber music, and is artistic director of the award-winning Southern Exposure New Music Series. Past full-time teaching positions include posts at Ohio University, Wright State University, and Goshen College (IN). His performances have been called “spectacular” (Washington Post) and “exquisite” (Columbus Dispatch).
A proponent of contemporary music, Harley is a founding member of the acclaimed
chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound, called “new music luminaries” and “one of the most vital and original ensembles on the American musical scene” (New York Times). AWS members were artists-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2013-14. Harley has worked with and premiered pieces by many of today’s most distinguished composers. He has been featured with AWS as a bassoonist, singer, and pianist, and has recorded on the Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, New Amsterdam, Innova, Centaur, and Sweetspot record labels.
As a recitalist, chamber, and orchestral musician, Harley has played in diverse venues on five continents, ranging from nightclubs and bars (Le Poisson Rouge and the Roxy in NYC) to Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Barbican (London), the Hermitage Theatre (St. Petersburg) and Johannesburg’s Town Hall.
Harley has degrees from the Eastman School of Music (D.M.A.), where he was awarded the Performer’s Certificate, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (M.M.), and Goshen College (B.A., English and music). His teachers include John Hunt, William Winstead, Gwendolyn Rose, and Sharon Trent. He lives in Columbia, SC with his wife, flutist Jennifer Parker-Harley, and daughters Ella and Lucia. 
Tickets: $10, $8 Students and $5 children
