the band
The LüftBassoons is a Tucson based band of bassoons on a mission to bring the magic of the bassoon everywhere and anywhere. Classical, pop, contemporary.. no genre is left unexplored by this band of individuals fulfilling one common goal of sharing great music, of all genres, on the best instrument ever made: The Bassoon.
LüftBassoons was formed from the hugely talented primordial bassoon ooze that is the Tucson bassoon community. Beginning as loose sessions of duets through sextets, the group finally found its footing in 2016 with founder Juan José Arévalo, Daniel Hursey, Brenda Willer Buys, and Cassandra Bendickson, and has featured such stellar adjunct members as the incredible Margaret Dudley and Robert Williams.
LüftBassoons has participated in live music and dance residencies, international festivals in Alamos and Hermosillo, and new music commissions with living composers. They made their international debut in Alamos, Sonora, MX at the Festival Alfonso Ortiz Tirado (FAOT) in 2015 and returned to Sonora in 2016 for the inaugural Festival Arenál for Contemporary Music in Hermosillo, where they had the honor of premiering their first commissioned work, “La República del Agua” by Mexican bassoonist and composer, Juan Carlos Villaseñor.
They continued this good work in 2019, winning a fully funded New Works grant from the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona. This “New Works for Bassoon Quartet” project resulted in the commissioning of five new works for bassoon quartet by local composers Jay Vosk, Marco Rosano, Dante Rosano, Russell Ronnebaum, and Samantha Bounkeua. Two of these works were premiered before international audiences in 2021 at the International Double Reed Society and the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Symposium. The LüftBassoons continued on their commissioning journey with world premieres in January 2023 of “Frida” and “Fariseos”, two new works by award-winning Mexican cellist and composer, Nubia Melina Jaime Donjuan. To date, ten new works for bassoon quartet now exist because of the efforts and collaborations of LüftBassoons and its members with the last of the 2019 works finally finding international applause at the 2024 International Double Reed Society convention.
Now directing their energies into works for three bassoons, 2026 will welcome world premieres of commissions from renowned composers Beck Turro and Martin van Klompenberg, and more.
LüftBassoons was formed from the hugely talented primordial bassoon ooze that is the Tucson bassoon community. Beginning as loose sessions of duets through sextets, the group finally found its footing in 2016 with founder Juan José Arévalo, Daniel Hursey, Brenda Willer Buys, and Cassandra Bendickson, and has featured such stellar adjunct members as the incredible Margaret Dudley and Robert Williams.
LüftBassoons has participated in live music and dance residencies, international festivals in Alamos and Hermosillo, and new music commissions with living composers. They made their international debut in Alamos, Sonora, MX at the Festival Alfonso Ortiz Tirado (FAOT) in 2015 and returned to Sonora in 2016 for the inaugural Festival Arenál for Contemporary Music in Hermosillo, where they had the honor of premiering their first commissioned work, “La República del Agua” by Mexican bassoonist and composer, Juan Carlos Villaseñor.
They continued this good work in 2019, winning a fully funded New Works grant from the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona. This “New Works for Bassoon Quartet” project resulted in the commissioning of five new works for bassoon quartet by local composers Jay Vosk, Marco Rosano, Dante Rosano, Russell Ronnebaum, and Samantha Bounkeua. Two of these works were premiered before international audiences in 2021 at the International Double Reed Society and the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Symposium. The LüftBassoons continued on their commissioning journey with world premieres in January 2023 of “Frida” and “Fariseos”, two new works by award-winning Mexican cellist and composer, Nubia Melina Jaime Donjuan. To date, ten new works for bassoon quartet now exist because of the efforts and collaborations of LüftBassoons and its members with the last of the 2019 works finally finding international applause at the 2024 International Double Reed Society convention.
Now directing their energies into works for three bassoons, 2026 will welcome world premieres of commissions from renowned composers Beck Turro and Martin van Klompenberg, and more.
