David Granger Bassoon Instructor

(510) 234-6768
Email: bsndayday@comcast.net
David Granger's home page: www.passamezzomoderno.com

Born in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, David Granger began studies at the age of 8 on clarinet. His clarinet teacher, Michael Spielman, principal bassoonist of the Kansas City Philharmonic, encouraged his student to switch to bassoon at the age of 13.

After studying two years at the University of Kansas with Austin Ledwith, Mr. Granger received his Bachelor of Music in 1973 and his Master of Music in 1975 from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. His teachers included Harold Goltzer of the New York Philharmonic and Elias Carmen, formerly of the NBC Symphony under Toscanini, and Stephen Maxym of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 1974 he won the schoolís annual concerto competition and performed the Weber Concert in F Major with the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra. From 1973 to 1977, Mr. Granger was a member of the prestigious National Orchestral Association, a training orchestra for young professionals that regularly performed in Carnegie Hall.

From 1975 to 1981, Mr. Granger worked in the busy >freelance world of New York City, performing with a number of that city's famous orchestras as well as pursuing an active chamber music career. He was a founding member of the Manhattan Woodwind Quintet, resident quintet at the C. W. Post Center of Long Island University and winner fo the 1978 Artists International Competition, making its Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1979. In 1981, Mr. Granger commuted to Florida to play principal bassoon in the West Palm Beach Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Granger was principal bassoonist of the Sacramento Symphony from 1981 until its bankruptcy in 1996. In 1982 he began teaching at the University of California, Davis, and in 1985, became coordinator of the music departmentís student chamber music program. During the fall of 1998, Mr. Granger taught as a sabbatical replacement at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California and performed concerts in Stockton, Sacramento, and Davis with the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet. In the fall of 2005, he taught again as a sabbatical replacement at California State University, Stanislaus.

Mr. Granger was a strong advocate of symphonic music while in Sacramento. When the Sacramento Symphony ceased operations in December, 1992, Mr. Granger, with other musicians and dedicated music lovers, created the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, a musician managed symphony (no association with the current organization with this name.) As President of the Philharmonic, he helped keep the symphony musicians performing for Sacramento audiences through the Spring of 1993, After the revival of the Sacramento Symphony. Mr. Granger served as Secretary of the Board of Directors, then continued his active role as coordinator of the Sacramento Sympohonyís very successful 1995 and 1996 World View Music Festivals.

Mr. Granger currently resides in the San Francisco Bay area where he works as a freelance musician performing in orchestras throughout northern California. He currently holds positions as principal bassoonist of the Napa Valley Symphony, the Sacramento Philharmonic, the Modesto Symphony, the Fremont Philharmonic, and is a member of the Oakland East Bay Symphony. He is also the bassoon instructor at the University of the Pacific in Stockton for the 2007/08 academic year and performing with the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet, the faculty quintet.

Mr. Granger attended Indiana University's Early Music Institute and received a Performers Diploma in Baroque bassoon in 2004. In 2005, he founded Passamezzo Moderno, a period ensemble that performs the music of three centuries, from 1530 to 1830, and specializes in the virtuoso instrumental music of the 17th century.

updated 1/11/2008