Who Is
Dominik Schulz
There’s a question that gets asked a lot in the reed-making world: do the people building these tools actually play? At Reeds ’n Stuff, the answer has always been yes – and with Dominik Schulz stepping into the role of Managing Director, that answer has never been more true.
Dominik’s story begins the way so many musician stories do: at a piano, at age eight. By fourteen, he’d made the switch to bassoon – and as he’ll tell you, he never looked back. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Music in New York, studying under Kim Laskowski, Associate Principal Bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic, before crossing the Atlantic to work with David Petersen, Principal Bassoonist of the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig.
Since then Dominik has contracted in every position from principal to contra with the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Komische Oper Leipzig, the Robert Schumann Philharmonie Chemnitz, and the Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau. He’s played on the world's biggest stages and in the orchestra pits with ensembles such as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, MDR Sinfonieorchester, and the NDR Elbphilharmonie. He’s played on Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera and toured with popular bands like Die Prinzen. In short: he has sat in the chair, wrestled with the reed, and felt exactly what every one of our customers feels before a performance.
As a founding member of the Leitzinger Bassoon Quartet, Dominik has performed at international festivals and released recordings praised by critics across Europe. As an arranger, he collaborates with artists like conductor Andris Nelsons, the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, the bassoon section of the New York Philharmonic, Rie Koyama, Dag Jensen, as well as marching bands across the United States.
But perhaps the most important thing Dominik does – for Reeds ’n Stuff, and for the broader community – is travel. Often, and with purpose.
From the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music to the Royal Academy of Music in London, from Eastman to Mahidol University in Thailand, from IDRS conferences in the United States to ADRS gatherings in Australia – Dominik goes where musicians are. He teaches masterclasses and reed-making courses, yes. But just as importantly, he listens. He asks what’s working and what isn’t. He sits with professionals navigating the demands of major orchestras and with students confronting the reed for the first time. He collects that experience – all of it – and brings it back.
This is what defines the Reeds ‘n Stuff approach. The tools we develop aren’t designed in isolation. They’re refined by an ongoing, global conversation – with musicians across different traditions, climates, and playing styles. When Dominik works on a product, the feedback of thousands of musicians from dozens of countries is in the room with him.
That’s what it means to be the only major reed-making equipment company run by musicians – not just endorsed by them, not just advised by them, but led by someone who never left the stage, never stopped teaching, and never stopped listening.
Who is Dominik? He’s a bassoonist who decided that helping musicians shape a better connection to their instruments was itself a form of music-making. And he’s the person steering Reeds ’n Stuff into its next chapter – with both hands on the instrument, and his ear to the ground in every corner of the world.
September 29, 2026
Interview Reeds 'n Stuff