Bassoon Song and Joel Kleinbaum

Freelance bassoonist Joel Kleinbaum has been playing bassoon since age 12 and clarinet since age 10. Joel received his Bachelor of Music in bassoon performance from Boston University. While at Boston University, he studied with legendary bassoonists Matthew Ruggiero and Sherman Walt. His chamber music coaches included Charles Kavaloski and legendary oboist Ralph Gomberg.

Joel has played bassoon professionally with the Des Moines Metro Opera. He played klezmer clarinet in the San Francisco Bay Area informally, with several different musicians. Joel currently plays with Classical Revolution PDX and various spin-off chamber groups from that organization. He has also played bassoon and clarinet with “Alternate Destination,” a unique world-chamber-jazz trio. Joel also teaches private bassoon lesssons through the Portland Music Collective.

Why “Bassoon Song”?

Joel has had a lifelong passion for vocal music: opera, art song, and more recently, the music of the great jazz vocalists. In fact, Joel put aside the bassoon for eight years in order to study classical voice. More recently, Joel was describing himself to an aspiring operatic tenor that he—along with many woodwind players—is a “frustrated singer.” Said the tenor, ”Maybe the bassoon is your voice.“ That was the genesis of Bassoon Song.

Joel has always loved to play great vocal music on the bassoon. His solo repertoire includes operatic and sacred arias as well as jazz standards from the ’30s, ’40s, and ‘50s. Just a few of the singers who inspire him include Renata Tebaldi, Rosa Ponselle, Beniamino Gigli, Jussi Bjoerling, Giuseppe de Luca, Ella Fitzgerald, and Bing Crosby.