Watts studied the bassoon from 1988 and completed his senior school education at
Newington College in 1993. He collaborated with the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1992 to 1993, winning prizes at Australian competitions. From 1994 he studied at the
Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Eberhard Marschall and, in 2000, finished his master's degree with distinction. In 1997 Watts won the international music competition
pacem in terris of
Bayreuth. In 2000 he was awarded the Yamaha Scholarship for Woodwind Instruments, which he used to study Baroque bassoon from 2001 to 2005 with Alberto Grazzi in Verona. He won a third prize at the
ARD International Music Competition in 2002, he was the first Australian woodwind player in the competition's history to win a prize, and an "award for the best interpretation of the commissioned work by
Heinz Holliger", Holliger's composition was recorded by the
Bayerischer Rundfunk on the CD
21st Century Instrumental Solos, a collection of works commissioned by the ARD competition since 2002. On another recording of the prizewinners of 2002 he plays Mozart's
bassoon concerto with the
Münchener Kammerorchester. Since 1998 Watts has been principal bassoonist of the
Münchner Philharmoniker. As a chamber musician, he commissioned and first performed in 2001 the first of four quartets for a woodwind instrument and string trio, called "Finnische Quartette", by
Jörg Duda. In 2003 he premiered the
Bassoon Quintet of
Graham Waterhouse at the
Gasteig. At the 2009 IDRS conference in Birmingham he played in several recitals, for example with bassoonist Thomas Eberhardt
Lacrimosa of
Louis Andriessen, Holliger's
Three Pieces,
Sofia Gubaidulina's Duo for two bassoons, and the premiere of
Bernd Redmann's
Secret doors for two bassoons and orchestra. In December 2009 he took part in the festival of
contemporary music Klangaktionen in Munich. In 2011 he premiered Redmann's
Migrant for bassoon and string quartet in Munich. Playing a Baroque bassoon built by Peter de Koningh after Eichentopf, Watts recorded arrangements of arias from
Handel's operas, "The Gentleman's Flute", in an ensemble with Stefan Temmingh, recorder, and his wife Olga Watts,
harpsichord, among others. Watts was one of 16 bassoonists in the concert
The Proud Bassoon, celebrating
William Waterhouse on 16 April 2011 in
Wigmore Hall. He played Waterhouse's arrangement for two bassoon choirs of
Giovanni Gabrieli's ''Sonata Pian' e Forte'',
Anton Reicha's Quintet for bassoon and strings, on an 1807 instrument from Waterhouse's collection, and the
Divertissement for bassoon and string quintet of
Jean Francaix, dedicated to Waterhouse. Watts taught the bassoon at the
Hochschule für Musik und Theater München between 2002 and 2007, and has worked as a professor at the
Bern University of the Arts since October 2005. He has conducted regular courses in Switzerland and Germany, and masterclasses in England, Portugal, Australia, Japan, China and Korea, He has been a teacher for the Junge Münchner Philharmonie. ==References==