Audiences may recognize Daniel Shelly from his ten-second role fourteen years ago as "Bassoonist" on NBC's Law & Order (S. 11, Ep. 3: Dissonance). When his dramatic line ("I'm sorry; I'll try it again") failed to garner him an Emmy nomination, Mr. Shelly turned his back on television and joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra instead.
Mr. Shelly has been a member of the MET Orchestra since 2004, and also performs in Carnegie Hall with the MET Chamber Ensemble. In recent seasons, he has performed with Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, and will join San Diego's Mainly Mozart Festival in 2015. He can be seen on PBS broadcasts of Gerard Schwarz's Emmy Award-winning All-Star Orchestra, and heard in numerous major motion picture and commercial soundtracks, including Noah, True Grit, and Bruce Springsteen's Wrecking Ball album.
Before joining the Met, Mr. Shelly held positions with the New Mexico Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Sarasota Opera, and numerous ensembles in the New York area. His earliest bassoon studies were with Shirley Curtiss, through Philadelphia's Settlement Music School. From there, he went on to receive his B.M. from the Eastman School of Music, where he was a student of K. David Van Hoesen, and his M.M. from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Judith LeClair.
Mr. Shelly is an ardent educator, and has taught at the Verbier Music Festival and Rutgers University. He is currently on the faculty of New York University, and also maintains a private studio. He lives in the Upper West Side with his wife, Metropolitan Opera music librarian Jennifer Johnson.