About

Alexis Cerise is a senior at the University of Kentucky, pursuing a B.M. in Bassoon Performance studying under Dr. Allison Nicotera, and formerly Peter Simpson. Alexis has served as the principal bassoon of the UK Symphony Orchestra, UK Wind Symphony, and UK Opera Orchestra for the past four seasons. She was a founding member of the UK Reed Quintet and the Wildcat Winds. During the summers, she has attended the Decoda Chamber Music Festival (2021), Longy's Divergent Studio (2021), and The Brevard Music Center's Summer Institute (2022).

Alexis has a wide variety of performance experience, ranging from large ensembles, chamber groups, new music ensembles, and solo performances. In particular, Alexis enjoys collaborating with others, performing in chamber groups, engaging with the community, and working with her studio of middle and high school students.
During her time at UK, Alexis has been keenly involved in her musical studies outside of performance. During her junior year, she spent the academic year researching and writing her paper titled, "The Development of the Bassoon from 1800-1900". During the same year, she gave her poster presentation titled, "Tania León's entre nos: The Art of Underlying Musical Structure" at the 2022 UK Undergraduate Research Showcase, also submitting it for the 2023 National Conference on Undergraduate Research.

Next year, Alexis intends to pursue her Master's in Bassoon Performance.