Bassoonery

THE MUSIC SOURCE

RIDGEFIELD SYMPHONY

BASSOONERY

. . . sprang into existence in the summer of 2005, when the bassoon section of the Ridgefield Symphony (CT) joined forces and decided it was time to share their love of the underappreciated bassoon, and the wide range of music written for it, with the public. TD Ellis, the ringleader of the group explains “This is a rare chance to see four bassoons play together, there is something about hearing all those bassoons together that simply must be experienced to be believed. Usually bassoons are tucked away-- toward the back of the orchestra, so this is a great opportunity to see us up close and personal.”

The literature for bassoon quartet features many original works, as well as arrangements of music both popular and unusual, from Bach to Barbershop and beyond. Performances have included the Keeler Tavern in Ridgefield, Music from the Top in Greenwich, Fairfield Theatre Company and more. A Bassoonery concert is sure to bring a smile to your face and a new appreciation of an instrument that can be both melodious and comic. Bring your family, bring your friends, bring your neighbors!

T.D. Ellis received his musical education at the Hartt School of Music and the State University of New York at Purchase. He is principal bassoonist and personnel manager of the Ridgefield Symphony and Bermuda Philharmonic, and has appeared as a soloist with the Ridgefield Symphony and Chappaqua Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Ellis also plays bassoon and contrabassoon with the Greenwich Symphony and Greater Bridgeport Symphony and may often be heard with many of the orchestras throughout the metropolitan New York area. He is a founding member of the RidgeWinds Quintet; has performed with the Quintet of the Americas and was a guest-artist-in-residence at Sarah Lawrence College. He has played off-Broadway with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players and the Jewish Repertory Theater, and has been principal bassoon for the Ives Festival Orchestra, the Tamworth (NH) Music Festival, and the Garrett Lakes Arts Festival in Deep Creek, Maryland. He teaches bassoon at Fairfield University and the University of Bridgeport.

Lisa Alexander is a freelance bassoonist and chamber musician in the New York metropolitan area and currently holds positions with the The Ridgefield Symphony, The Little Orchestra Society, The New York Choral Society, and has performed with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, The American Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and many others. Ms. Alexander is also Adjunct Professor of Bassoon at Hofstra University and teaches at the JCC-Thurnauer School of Music in Tenafly, NJ. She holds a Master of Musical Arts degree from Queens College, and Bachelor of Performance and Music Education degree from The Peabody Conservatory.

Jacqueline Sifford holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of South Carolina. Her teachers have included Dan Welcher, Harold Goltzer and Ryohei Nakagawa. An active free-lance musician, Ms. Sifford has performed with a number of ensembles throughout the New York Metropolitan area, and more recently in Fairfield County, CT. She has extensive experience playing opera, having been by the Sarasota Opera, tha Austin Lyric Opera, and the Columbia (S.C.) Lyric Opera. Ms. Sifford has also participated in the Bowdoin Music Festival in Maine, the Music at Gretna Festival in Pennsylvania and the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado.

Kelley Gile has played woodwind instruments for most of her life; however, in college she discovered a shocking propensity for the lower… nay, lowest musical tones. Hence, her decision to make a living playing bassoon and contrabassoon; one cannot get any lower and still be in the woodwind family. She has two Bachelor’s degrees and two Master’s degrees - one in bassoon performance from New England Conservatory to her credit, and also spent time in post-graduate bassoon studies with Milan Turkovic at the Hochschule “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Austria. Kelley has performed with major symphony orchestras in London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Bermuda, Washington D.C., Boston, and New York, as well as numerous other cities in the free world. She now resides in Connecticut with her husband, daughter, and schipperke, and performs with many of the local symphony orchestras.