We are pausing the purchase portal for my online Shopify storefront. Life is too busy, and recently I had to juggle three consecutive scam orders. Plus we are still trying to figure out how to add the !@#$!@#$!@#!@#$!@ US tariffs as part of the automatic checkout. Definitely too busy for that. Easy enough to figure out if you want to buy something directly. You can still browse all the art and books and reeds. Email me if you want to buy anything.
Working on a new solo album for bassoon alone called OUTSIDE including 4 addictive solo preludes by Mathieu Lussier, 2 solos works by Marc Mellits (Frost & Dark Matter), Jacqueline Wilson’s lovely Dance Suite plus duos by Mellits and Gubaidulina. Last week I recorded Marc Mellits’ wonderful BLACK for two bassoons with my superstar colleague, Nicolas Richard (principal bassoon Symphony Nova Scotia), and this week, I’m starting rehearsals with Kevin Harris for Sofia Gubaidulina’s duo sonata. This work has some delicate and robust extended techniques, including quarter tones. Here is the quarter-tone fingering chart that I developed for my Heckel 13,479 (three bassoons ago). . . most of the fingerings seem to work on the Bell but it takes drilling (repetition) for it to become second nature. Take a look and see if they work for you. Ignore the page numbers (25-30) as these are the rough notes for a larger manual that I built for my students.
If you want to hear me, tell your local orchestras. Just like politics, it always helps when the people speak. Blue Bell and I are looking forward to coming soon to an orchestra near you.💙
Two solid weeks of musical and personal happiness in June, teaching and performing at Domaine Forget. Set on the steep rolling forested hills of Charlevoix, on the shores of the might St Laurent, it was wonderful to be around so many talented and committed students on all woodwinds with very impressive bassoonists. And an absolute joy to perform and work with my dear friend Mathieu Lussier and my newest bassoon friend, the resplendent Lola Descours. And the woodwind faculty was glorious with performers from Europe, US and Canada. And the quietly superb management of every single detail by the dedicate administrators (all musicians themselves) made it such an enjoyable and carefree time. On the long journey to and from the festival, I stopped in Ottawa to visit bassoonist Christopher Millard and his wonderful wife, Camille Churchfield. I’ll write more and share more photos when the happy daze wears off.
Photos by Marie-Hélène Forest, Jeff Poussier-Leduc, Amelia Walker
Mathieu’s music has been the soundtrack of my career without ever setting out to be. . . we will talk a bit about our first meeting at Festival Domaine Forget when Mathieu was a student and my hair was brown, through to our early music collaborations, the Caliban Quartet, and the mind-boggling number of solo works that Mathieu has written for me including the Oddbird Concerto, which I’ve performed more times than the Mozart concerto (with way more standing ovations) and all the other concerti he wrote. I’ve recorded so much of his music and always love playing it WITH ALL MY HEART. Since we hardly ever see one another, this will be our chance to catch up and to include anyone who wants a glimpse of what an accidental lifetime collaboration can sound like. Also, be nice to your students. They are more talented and generous than you can ever imagine.
