“Bassoon and Other Species” concert at Ojai Art Center

Written on April 8, 2011 – 3:16 am | by Cameron Hussey

A bassoon boom will hit Ojai on Sunday. Add a flutist to five bassoonists and you get “Bassoons and Other Species,” a concert at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Ojai Art Center. The program will feature Andy Radford of Ojai (pictured) and his bassoonist colleagues — Lyndy McGrody, Tamerin Busia, Brittany McHargue and Cameron O’Neil — plus flutist Carol Joe.

Radford is principal bassoonist for the Santa Barbara Symphony and the California Philharmonic. He has played on more than 300 film soundtracks, including “Star Trek” and “Forrest Gump,” and performed and recorded with such artists as Neil Diamond, the Dixie Chicks, and The Modern Jazz Quartet. An artist-in-residence for the Ojai Music Festival’s BRAVO! music education program, Radford co-founded the Ojai Youth Symphony, is music director of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony, and teaches at UC Santa Barbara and Westmont College.

The concert will feature music composed mostly for bassoons. Besides large ensemble pieces, several duos and solos will be performed. The music features tunes from the high baroque to 2010, “with a nod to the 1950s.” Composers represented will include Bach, Couperin, Prokofiev and Villa Lobos.

“Some beautiful tunes and some frivolity are included,” Radford said.

The Ojai Art Center is at 113 S. Montgomery St., Ojai. Tickets will be sold at the door only: $10 for general admission and $8 for students and Art Center members.

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