Kipras Mazeika Contrabassoon Masterclass

Seattle native Kipras Mažeika joined the Seattle Symphony in 2022 after earning a degree in Bassoon Performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he studied with Benjamin Kamins and was a recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. Previously, he studied with Francine Peterson and was a member of the Seattle Youth Symphony.

Kipras has appeared as soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, and Seattle Wind Symphony. As an orchestral player, he has performed with the Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, and London Symphony Orchestra. In the summers, he has been a fellow at the Music Academy of the West, member of the Bellingham Festival Orchestra, and pit musician at the Seattle Opera.

Passionate about community engagement, Kipras was a coordinator for the Shepherd School’s Just For U Music Program, where he organized and performed concerts for various Houston elementary and middle schools. He is also a regular member of the Seattle Symphony Wind Quintet, with whom has performed for prison inmates and young children in the Symphony’s Tiny Tots series. As an educator, Kipras has taught contrabassoon lessons to students at the University of Washington, and is a coach for the bassoon section of the Seattle Youth Symphony, marking a full circle moment in his musical career.