Mark Ortwein is the Assistant Principal Bassoonist and Contra Bassoonist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada. Mark attended Loyola University in New Orleans for two years majoring in bassoon and jazz saxophone. In 1989, after transferring to Boston University, Mark received a Bachelor of Music degree in Bassoon Performance, graduating Magna Cum Laude. While in Boston, he won the Alan Mark Roberts Performance Competition, and was the top woodwind finalist for the Boston Pops Concerto Competition on bassoon. Mark joined the United States Air Force Band at March Air Force Base in California as saxophone soloist (and woodwind doubler) in 1990, and later moved to the Air Force Academy where he was the principal bassoonist with the United States Air Force Band of the Rockies until 1997. He moved to Cincinnati to study bassoon with William Winstead at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Mark completed his Masters Degree from CCM in 2000.

Over the last 15 years, Mark has performed in many different musical projects including professional recordings, musical theater, chamber ensembles, jazz and R&B groups, as well as many orchestral performances. He has performed all over the world in many different venues, ranging from Carnegie Hall to the Grand Ole Opry and MTV. A versatile performer, Mark plays all the saxophones, clarinets, flutes, and bassoons. He regularly plays saxophone with the Cincinnati Pops, and has performed in concert with such artists as Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow, Manhattan Transfer, Dave Brubeck, Rosemary Clooney, Eddie Daniels, and Arturo Sandoval. Mark has been a member of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet, and the Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra.

Mark has studied with William Winstead at CCM, Matt Ruggiero at Boston University, Crawford Best at Loyola University, Yoshi Ishikawa at UNLV, and Jon Beebe. Mark also studied saxophone with Paul McGinley, Garvin Bushnell, Craig Yancey, Jeff Barash, and has studied woodwind doubling with John Reilly.

In June 2003, Mark was the featured soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the baton of John Williams, playing the second live performance of Williams "Escapades for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra." Mark is an active studio musician and records regularly for the Hal Leonard Publishing Company as well as projects for Disney. Mark lives with his wife, who is a public school orchestra director, and their two children in Indianapolis.