“Nerdette host Greta Johnsen Johnsen and co-host Tricia Bobeda celebrate the orchestra’s largest woodwind,” states the introduction to a podcast posted Friday (8/11) on Chicago Public Media station WBEZ. “They talked about the history of the instrument with bassoonist and culture writer Eileen Reynolds, jammed with a Principal Bassoonist from the Chicago Philharmonic, and even called up the self-proclaimed ‘Bassoon King,’ Rainn Wilson. Wilson, best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on The Office, created quite a stir in the bassoon community with the release of his 2015 autobiography The Bassoon King, as bassoonists everywhere finally received their long-awaited moment in the spotlight.” Wilson: “I never thought that I would get a call from someone saying, ‘Hey, we’re doing a podcast on bassoons,’ and they would call me as an authority.… No one does podcasts on bassoons. Or double reeds, or woodwinds for that matter.… [In high school] I was a lowly clarinetist, but I had my eyes on the saxophone section, because the saxophones were so much fun.… I went to my high school band teacher…. He said, ‘We’re full up on saxophones, but you know what’s even cooler than the saxophone? … The bassoon.’ ”
Posted August 16, 2017
