TG
OB
Tim Gocklin
After furthering his studies with the oboe, Tim became captivated by the art of chamber music. This love of chamber music led Tim and four others to found the Akropolis Reed Quintet. Having begun in 2009, Akropolis has won six national chamber music prizes, and is the only ensemble of its makeup to win the Fischoff Gold Medal and Grand Prize at both the Plowman and MTNA chamber music competitions. The ensemble, all of whom remain the original members, has recorded four albums to date, most recently Ghost Light, which showcase original works for reed quintet commissioned by the ensemble by composers such as Stacy Garrop, John Steinmetz, David Biedenbender, Jeff Scott, Paul Dooley, and more. Altogether, Akropolis has commissioned nearly 80 works for the reed quintet genre. In the pursuit of creating a stronger presence for the reed quintet, Tim has led chamber music masterclasses with Akropolis at colleges and universities throughout the country and around the world such as the University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin, Louisiana State University, as well as Khalifa University and NYU in Abu Dhabi.
"...Gocklin spun both tricky passage work and long flowing lines with equal aplomb." - Oregon ArtsWatch
"...remarkably beautiful oboe playing...Oboist Timothy Gocklin is extraordinary." - Fanfare Magazine
Outside of Akropolis, Tim has performed in a wide variety of settings with ensembles such as Le Train Bleu under the direction of Ransom Wilson, Cantata Profana, The New York Chamber Soloists on a tour of South America, The Mozart Orchestra of New York under Gerard Schwarz, The Orchestra of St. Luke's, and The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Tim has also had the pleasure of attending Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) as part of the protégé artist program, premiering new works by composers David Schiff and John Steinmetz and collaborating with artists of the Dover and Miro String Quartets, in addition to many artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 2014, Tim experienced Portland, OR for the first time at CMNW and was fortunate to perform alongside David Shifrin and oboist Allan Vogel in a program of Dvorak's Wind Serenade, Op. 44 and Mozart's Gran Partita in B-flat, KV 361. Additional summer engagements have included appearances at the Caramoor Festival with the Akropolis Reed Quintet and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Summerwinds Festival in Münster, Germany, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, Cape Cod Music Festival and fellowships at the Norfolk and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals. This summer, Tim is thrilled be to joining the faculty at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Tim can be heard on the NAXOS, Equilibrium and Block M record labels and has participated in other recording projects, including two albums with the University of Michigan Symphony Band in 2010 and 2012, the second of which feature new works for wind ensemble under the direction of Michael Haithcock. These works were taken on a tour to China where the band performed 9 concerts in 6 cities, including at Beijing's National Centre for the Arts and Shanghai’s Grand Theatre. In 2011, he recorded the three piano concerti of Alberto Ginastera with pianist Barbara Nissman and the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra.
In 2012, Tim received his Bachelors degree summa cum laude from the University of Michigan where he studied with Dr. Nancy Ambrose King. He went on to pursue his Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma at Yale University studying with Stephen Taylor. When not playing the oboe or whittling away at his reeds, Tim can be found relaxing in a coffee shop or at his kitchen table with a journal and pencil on one side and a hot, robust cup of coffee on the other.
