Kathleen Moran is from Los Angeles, California and began a Doctor of Musical Arts in Bassoon performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Fall 2023 where she previously received a Master of Music and a Bachelor of Music summa cum laude in Bassoon performance. At CCM, she studies with Martin Garcia and previously studied with Christopher Sales and William Winstead. Prior to CCM, she was a bassoon student of John Campbell for six years in Los Angeles.

Kathleen is the Librarian for the May Festival Chorus (the official chorus for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra), Graduate Assistant Librarian of the Wind Studies Department at CCM, and was an Assistant Librarian at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina in the summers of 2023 and 2024. She attended summer music programs as a performer at the National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute, Miami Classical Music Festival, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Interlochen and Idyllwild. Kathleen is the contracted third bassoon and contrabassoon for the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic and has performed on contrabassoon with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra (Indiana). 

Kathleen was a Semi-Finalist in the 2025 Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition. She has served as CCM’s Tribunal Vice President and as a member of the Philharmonia Orchestra Committee.  When not in a practice room or music library, you can find her at the Cincinnati Ballet taking dance classes. She is excited to be a part of New Downbeat.