Blacklight Bassoon Ensemble
Overview
The BlackLight Bassoon Ensemble was the brainchild of Sean Craypo and came into being in the fall of 1999. The original members Sean, Rian and Eric commissioned new works from University of Texas and other Austin composers and performed them in several venues and on the popular public radio show Eklektikos.
In 2004, this trio became the BlackLight Bassoon Ensemble with the addition of members Fei Xie, Mike Muna, Abigail Jones and Adam Trussell in order to record these pieces and perform them again, especially at the International Double Reed Society’s 2005 Convention in Austin. The completed CD includes eight pieces for bassoon and contrabassoon in trio or quartet formation. This disc and all of the accompanying sheet music are available in the Store, either individually or as a set. For more information, Ronald Klimko reviewed most of our sheet music in ‘The Double Reed’.
Individual Bios
Adam Trussel
Originally from Portland, Maine, Adam Trussell is currently the second bassoonist with the Omaha Symphony. He completed his undergraduate degree at New England Conservatory where he studied with Gregg Henegar and Richard Svoboda and in 2005 graduated with his master’s degree from Rice University, where he studied with Ben Kamins. Adam has performed with orchestras such as the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Portland Symphony, the Boston Philharmonic, the Danish Chamber Players, Beaumont Symphony and other various professional orchestras. He has participated in many summer festivals as well, including the Sarasota Music Festival, AIMS in Graz, Kent/Blossom and the National Orchestral Institute.
Abigail Jones
Abigail Jones is originally from Pensacola, Florida where she received her Associate of Arts Degree in Piano and Bassoon from Pensacola Junior College. In 2004 she completed her Bachelor of Music degree at Florida State University, where she studied with Jeff Keesecker. While at FSU she received the Brauchlecht Bright Futures in Music Scholarship and was an active member of the Student Board of Advisors. In May 2007 she will complete her master’s degree at Rice University where she is studying with Ben Kamins. At Rice she associate student coordinator for the JUMP! music inreach program and is on faculty with the Shepherd School Preparatory School of Performing Arts. She has appeared as a soloist with the Central Florida Symphony, the Pensacola Junior College Wind Ensemble, and the Northwest Florida Home School Band.
Eric Stone Miller
Eric Stone Miller was born in Texas and studied with Eric Arbiter while he attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. He received his bachelor’s degree from Eastman, after which he played with the Wichita Symphony for two years. Eric completed his master’s degree at Yale University and is currently working on his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin with Kristin Wolfe Jensen. He has attended many festivals including Tanglewood, Sarasota and Brevard Music Center, and has performed with the Atlanta Ballet, Austin Symphony and Lyric Opera, and the San Antonio Symphony, among others. Eric is on faculty at Mary Hardin Baylor and principal bassoonist of the Brazos Valley Symphony.
Mike Muna
Mike Muna is the second bassoonist in the Houston Ballet, a position he won while attending Rice University for his master’s degree, which he completed in 2005 under Ben Kamins. Mike received his bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2003, where he studied with George Sakakeeny.
Fei Xie
Originally from China, Fei Xie now lives in Houston, Texas and is the second bassoonist in the Houston Grand Opera. Fei received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2004 under George Sakakeeny and his master’s degree from Rice University in 2006 under Ben Kamins. He has performed with such orchestras as the Houston Symphony and attended many summer festivals, among which are the National Repertory Orchestra and Tanglewood.
Sean Craypo
Sean Craypo joined the Austin Fire Department as a Firefighter in 2005 after a year of intense training and probationary exams. In order to prepare himself for the strenuous requirements of application, he studied music at the University of Texas at Austin and received a Music Studies degree in 2000. He then taught private lessons in bassoon in the Austin area and went on scholarship to study bassoon at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland under Janet Bloxwich. His primary teachers have been Kristin Wolfe Jensen on bassoon and Dr. Kevin Puts and Dr. Craig Nasor for composition. His classical compositions have been performed in many venues in Austin as well as in Houston and on the popular radio show Eklektikos on KUT. The PBS documentary ‘The Future of Tomorrow’ currently being produced features some of his music, as well as other Austin composers. Works of interest to double reed players include two woodwind quintets, two bassoon trios, a bassoon concerto ‘the plane and the lathe’ and a trio for bassoon, cello and french horn titled ‘Boat Song.’ His most recent project is an album ‘Infinity in All Directions’ by his band ContraNova.. Busy guy, Sean.
Rian Craypo
Rian Craypo received her undergraduate degree in bassoon from the University of Texas at Austin in 2004 with Kristin Wolfe Jensen, and her master’s in the same from Rice University in 2006 with Ben Kamins. For the 2001-2002 school year she went abroad to the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg, Germany with the Federation of German/American Clubs Scholarship, where she studied with Albrecht Holder and Ulrich Hermann. Rian has twice been a finalist in the Gillet-Fox International Competition for Bassoon (2004, 2006) as well as placing first and second in concerto competitions at UT and Rice, respectively. She has performed with such orchestras as the Houston, New World, San Antonio and Austin Symphony Orchestras, and has attended the summer festivals of RoundTop and Tanglewood. Rian premiered Sean Craypo’s bassoon concerto ‘the plane and the lathe’ in December of 2003 and has also performed it in Houston on the Rice University campus.