Matthew
Rasmussen

Bassoon

Matthew Rasmussen fancies himself a performer, composer, educator, activist, and musician extraordinaire. 

He has played percussion, piano, and various woodwind instruments professionally, though the bassoon will always be his true love. Large ensembles Matthew has performed with professionally include the Sacramento Philharmonic, Bakersfield Symphony, American Youth Symphony, Conejo Valley Choral Society, and Solano Symphony (as a soloist performing the Weber Bassoon Concerto). He currently serves as second bassoon with the Santa Monica Symphony, and just completed his tenure as the inaugural principal bassoonist of the California Young Artists Symphony with a final concert of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Apart from his orchestral pursuits, Matthew is currently the bassoonist for Fivemind Reeds, a professional Los Angeles-based reed quintet striving towards presenting accessible and equitable classical music performances who are two-time Sound Garden Project artists-in-residence at Interlochen Public Radio.

When away from the bassoon, Matthew also composes, writing percussion ensemble works, chamber music, and even performing his own Suite for Bassoon and Strings with the UC Davis Sinfonietta. A strong advocate for music education, new music, and social justice in the arts, Matthew has commissioned new bassoon works and works for Fivemind Reeds by professional composers, and actively includes pieces by women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ composers in his repertoire and teaching. He hopes to continue to expand the bassoon’s repertoire, and teach children not to fear the bassoon, but instead love and appreciate it as he does.

Matthew holds bachelor’s degrees in music and linguistics from UC Davis, studying bassoon with David Granger and composition with Laurie San Martin, and a Master of Music degree in bassoon from UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, studying with John Steinmetz. At UCLA, Matthew performed Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Ciranda das sete notas with the UCLA Philharmonia as a winner of the school’s concerto competition.

In his free time, Matthew enjoys cooking and playing video games.