Performance Opportunities on Early Bassoon

Unfortunately, performance opportunities for early bassoon are difficult to come by in Australia especially outside of the larger Australian cities although my own city, Brisbane is now the home to a number of period instrument baroque orchestras and chamber ensembles. Early Music Societies of the various Australian states (such as the Early Music Society of Queensland) however, can often be contacted in order to put your in contact other members who play other historical instruments at A=415 and A=440 in particular, recorder and viol players. Many of these societies also hold performing workshops for players of historical instruments of all standards once or twice a year.

Another possibility is attending some of the many workshops which are held overseas. Canadian period instrument orchestra Tafelmusik for example, hold their annual Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto (See https://www.tafelmusik.org/artist-training/tafelmusik-baroque-summer-institute. In 2016, I attended the Mezinárodní letní škola staré hudby (International Summer School of Early Music) in Valtice, Czech Republic which provided the opportunity to perform chamber music by Vivaldi and Purcell’s King Arthur in a baroque riding hall as well as receiving lessons from Hungarian baroque bassoonist, Györgyi Farkas. Also in 2016, I attended the La Pellegrina Summer School which provided the opportunity to perform choral-orchestral works by Brixi and Zelenka in the late medieval Franciscan Monastery at Bechyně, Czech Republic.

Shaun Wigley