About Us
The Ensemble
Compass Winds is a Seattle based quartet composed of musicians brought together by the love of chamber music and the desire to make great music with great friends.
Performing repertoire for a unique wind ensemble, Compass Winds pursues a fresh perspective of wind quartet music. The distinct sonorities of the flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon combine as our voice to express the passion of the music and playing together.
Rose V. Johnson - Flute
Rose V. Johnson, a freelance solo and chamber ensemble musician, has been performing and teaching music since childhood. Rose received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Instrumental Music Performance, with an emphasis in flute, from Northern Arizona University and her Master of Music degree from the University of Washington. Her mentors include Erich Graf, Philip Swanson and Felix Skowronek. Rose is a member of the Ladies’ Quintessential Quintet, Compass Winds, Peregrine Rose Trio, has formerly been Principal Flute of the Ensign Symphony & Chorus and Northwest Symphony Orchestra, and has been a member of the National Flute Association's Professional Flute Choir in 2008, and 2010-2019. Rose maintains a private studio, works with youth chamber ensembles and has coached with the Seattle Youth Symphony's Summer Music program, Music Northwest Youth Chamber Summer program, the Evergreen Philharmonic and the Eastside Youth Concert Band. Rose is a founder of Collaborative Musicians’ Project and has served on the boards of the National Flute Association’s Performance Health Committee, the Seattle Flute Society, Silver Flight Ensembles and Foundation, and the Federal Way Arts Commission. Rose resides with her engineer husband in Issaquah, WA and is the proud mother of a violinist daughter and a multi-talented son.
Lori Shepherd - Clarinet, Saxophone
Residing in Seattle since 2012, Lori Shepherd is a freelance musician and private music instructor specializing in woodwinds. She holds a Masters degree in Clarinet performance from the University of Utah, and has performed around the world in various ensembles on a dizzying assortment of instruments. Beside playing with Compass Winds, she currently plays clarinet with Ladies' Quintessential Quintet, Trio de Bois, Peregrine Rose Trio, and Blackwood&Silver Trio. She plays alto saxophone with Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, and baritone saxophone with Bamboo and Brass Saxophone Quartet and Emerald City Saxophone Quartet. Putting her versatility as a woodwind doubler to good use, Lori has performed extensively in musical theater productions, including productions at Seattle Repertory Theater, Seattle Musical Theater, the Village Kidstage, and Showtunes Theatre Company. In addition to formerly teaching junior high band, she has taught private lessons since 2000, and recently began appearing as a guest artist and lecturer at universities in Utah and Idaho.
Derek Smith - Bassoon, Clarinet, Saxophone
Woodwind artist, Derek Smith, is proficient on saxophone, clarinet, bassoon, and flute and has performed in numerous concert halls around the world. Well versed in both classical and commercial genres, recent performance highlights include the New World Symphony under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas and a performance during Festival Miami. As a recording artist he has worked with Gloria Estefan, Chick Corea, Bobby McFerrin, and George Benson. Smith has performed with Arturo Sandoval, Maria Schneider, Dave Liebman, Gloria Estefan, George Benson, Vince Mendoza, Terence Blanchard, Bruce Hornsby, the Opus One Orchestra, Kravis Center Pops, Opera Naples, Michael Feinstein, Take 6, Kirk Whalum, Shelly Berg, and Dave Gruisin. Smith is also active in the musical theater world regularly appearing in productions in the Seattle area at The 5th Avenue Theater and The Village Theater. Smith currently maintains an active private studio in the Seattle area in addition to serving as a guest lecturer and adjudicator in the Lake Washington School district. His formal studies include a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance from California State University-Fresno, a Master of Music in Jazz Pedagogy and Jazz Saxophone Performance and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in multiple woodwind performance from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.
Robyn Watson - Bassoon
Seattle-based bassoonist, Robyn Watson, was born and raised in Houston, TX. She attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and was a member of the Texas All-State Symphony in 2002. Ms. Watson received a Bachelor of Music degree with an emphasis in Commercial Music Technology from Belmont University in Nashville, TN in the studio of Pat Gunter. From there, she earned a Master of Music degree in bassoon performance from the University of Houston, studying with Cheryl Huddleston.
After her master's was attained, Robyn spent the better part of the next 13 years nurturing the musical lives of hundreds of junior-high and high school students in the Houston area. Even while her teaching schedule kept her busy, Robyn accepted any opportunity to perform, leading up to her deciding to go back to school in the fall of 2020 to pursue a Performer's Diploma from Southern Methodist University in Dallas under the tutelage of Ted Soluri.
As a performer, Robyn has attended music festivals in Las Vegas, Houston, Banff (CA), Powell River (CA), Lake Tahoe, and Branson. She has played with orchestras such as Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Symphony of Southeast Texas, Baton Rouge Symphony, and Clear Lake Symphony. Ms. Watson was invited to present virtual recitals during the 2021 Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition & Symposium and the 2021 International Double Reed Society Virtual Conference. In the spring of 2021, Robyn joined Trio de Bois, an all-female reed trio under the umbrella of The Ladies' Reeding Society, a collective of women performers who desire to empower and promote females in music. The trio was invited to perform at the 2022 International Double Reed Society conference in Boulder, CO.