Bassoon Archives - Kathleen McLean

End-of-year celebration for my students, complete with snacks and drinks. It was a lovely gathering to mark the last day of the school year.

Join the 61st Season of the National Youth Orchestra Online

This year will be an exciting new approach to the training program with the online components. This year there will be additional master classes with guest instructors. It will reach a much larger audience with being online and I’m really looking forward to collaborating with Michael Sundell & our talented group of bassoon students.

Faculty Bios

Kathleen McLean, Bassoon

Michael Sundell, Contrabassoon

About This Organization

Canada’s leading professional orchestral training institute for talented emerging musicians ages 16 to 28.

The National Youth Orchestra of Canada is a Canadian youth orchestra located in Waterloo, Ontario. The orchestra has given concert tours in every major Canadian city as well as trips to other countries, including the United States, Japan, China and countries in Europe. Wikipedia

An artful portrait by Joel Washington

Bloomington, Indiana artist Joel Washington
Bloomington-based artist Joel Washington has crafted a stunning portrait of bassoonist Kathleen McLean. “I stumbled upon his vibrant pop art at Laughing Planet one day, featuring Frank Zappa, and was blown away. After checking the signature, I discovered Joel lived in Bloomington and reached out to him about creating cover art for my recording. After some conversations he agreed to turn a photo into an artful portrait. It took over a year to complete, but the final piece is pure magic. I’m thrilled to share it! Joel is a phenomenal artist, and you can explore his extensive portfolio and diverse styles on his website, plus, check out his major works at Indiana University’s Memorial Building.”

Visit Joel’s website at JoelWashingtonArt.com

Émile Naoumoff , Trois élégies1988

Emile wrote this hauntingly beautiful & expressive piece. It’s full of gorgeous soaring melodies for the bassoon.

About Émile Naoumoff

Émile Naoumoff (Bulgarian: Емил Наумов; born 20 February 1962 in Sofia, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian pianist and composer. He revealed himself a musical prodigy at age five, taking up the study of piano and adding composition to his studies a year later. At the age of eight, after a fateful meeting in Paris, he became the last disciple of Nadia Boulanger,[1] who referred to him as “the gift of my old age”. He studied with her until her death in late 1979. Boulanger gave him the opportunity to work with Clifford Curzon, Igor Markevitch, Robert and Gaby Casadesus, Nikita Magaloff, Jean Françaix, Leonard Bernstein, Soulima Stravinsky, Aram Khachaturian and Yehudi Menuhin.[1][2] Lord Menuhin conducted the premiere of Naoumoff’s first Piano Concerto, with the composer as a soloist when he was ten years old. He pursued studies at the Paris Conservatory with Lélia Gousseau,[3] Pierre Sancan,[4] Geneviève Joy-Dutilleux, as well as at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with Pierre Dervaux (conducting). Wikipedia

Iván Erőd, Sonate Milanese, op 47-1984

This is an enchanting work, particularly the 2nd movement. It’s a challenging piece technically to play and one of our gems in our repertoire.

Iván Erőd, Sonate Milanese, op 47-1984

1.Allegro Molto, 2.Andante Tranquillo, 3.Lento Molto Giusto-Presto Performed in Auerhall, 2016/10/8 Angela Park Piano, Kathleen McLean Bassoon.

About Iván Erőd

Iván Erőd was a Hungarian-Austrian composer and pianist. Educated in Budapest, he emigrated to Austria in 1956, where he studied at the Vienna Music Academy. He was successful as a pianist and composer of operas, chamber music and much more, with elements from serialism, Hungarian folk music and jazz. Wikipedia

Random Acts of Kindness

Don Freund created a version of this piece for bassoon & piano. This was originally written for Eugene Rousseau as a retirement gift. It’s a lovely piece and he thought it would sound great with bassoon and piano.

Angela Park Piano and Kathleen McLean Bassoon
Auerhall 2016/10/08

Don Freund is an American composer, pianist, and Professor of Composition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. His over 100 performed works, include solo, chamber, and orchestral music, live performance with electronic instruments, large theatre works.

McGill Bassoon Day 2020 in Montreal, Québec Canada

A great weekend working with some fine young bassoon students in Canada. I spent this Saturday giving a master class and performing a recital with colleagues from the Montreal Symphony and students at the McGill University.

McGill Bassoon Day 2020 - Benson Bell Bassoon Group

McGill Bassoon Day 2020 - Tanna Concert Hall

Interview from WFIU – The Soul Of The Orchestra: Bassoonist Kathleen McLean

Associate professor of bassoon at the IU Jacobs School of Music, Kathleen McLean says, “People have always said the bassoon sounds like the human soul.”Listen Now: The Soul Of The Orchestra: Bassoonist Kathleen McLean-4:44

Listen to the WFIU interview Download

Read the full article here: https://indianapublicmedia.org/arts/kathleen-mclean/

2019 Tour with the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico

After two weeks spent in Puerto Rico, The International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico (ICOPR) completed 8 concerts, several master classes, and reached out to many students, young children, and adults with disabilities.

The local community we visited appeared fascinated because they had never seen classical music instruments before. At rehearsal breaks the children would be paraded around the orchestra to look at our instruments. It was funny and it was almost as if we were, “animals in a zoo”. They were delighted and in many cases the students came up and touched the instruments. It was sweet!

We also had a chance to see the developments after Hurricane Maria. The people were so kind and warm. We heard stories of people without phone and electricity for seven months! Some people had to sleep in their cars at night. The only thing they had was a car and gas. No phone and no computer for that long! (Maybe that would be good?) The gift of music to the Puerto Rico community was really appreciated.

Throughout the weeks the principal players of the orchestra were giving master classes to the young aspiring musicians of Puerto Rico at each city we performed in.

On the odd off day, we visited beaches throughout the territory of Puerto Rico. There was a gorgeous surfing resort town called Rincón where we saw some super interesting waves. Some of us rented paddle boards, enjoyed the beach, and enjoyed the local dives. The visit inspired me to think I may want to move here for part of the year.

Here are some photos from the trip: