Joyce Besch currently holds the position of third bassoon/contrabassoon in Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra. She began teaching bassoon at Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2007. While living in Toronto, Ontario, Joyce was an active free-lance bassoonist, playing with several area orchestras, including Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Windsor Symphony, Niagara Symphony and Oshawa-Durham Symphony. Joyce also taught bassoon and aural skills at Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan.
Joyce has studied bassoon with Laine Bryce and Carole Mason-Smith in St. Paul, MN, Yoshi Tominaga in Salzburg, Austria, and Linda Harwell in Baltimore, MD. She has received degrees from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota (B.A. Music Ed.) and from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University (M.M. Performance). While at the College of St. Catherine, Joyce was a two-time winner of the CSC Concerto competition, allowing her to perform as a soloist with members of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.