McGill Bassoon Day 2024
Join us for the 21st annual Bassoon Day at McGill on Saturday, February 3, 2024! We look forward to seeing you for classes with our special guests Carlo Colombo and Marlène Ngalissamy, exhibits, and our Bassoon Extravaganza concert!
Schedule:
- 9:00 am - 2:00 pm, C-310 | Exhibits: Come try out bassoons and bocals by Canadian bassoon maker Benson Bell
- 10:30 am - 12:00 pm, C-304 | Masterclass with Marlène Ngalissamy, principal bassoon of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec.
- 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, C-304 | Masterclass with Carlo Colombo, principal bassoon of the Opéra National de Lyon and professor at the Conservatoire National de Musique de Lyon and at the Lausanne Conservatory.
- 5:00 pm, Pollack Hall | A Bassoon Extravaganza #21! Join us for a bassoon concert featuring our special guests Carlo Colombo and Marlène Ngalissamy, as well as members of the OSM bassoon section, and don't forget to bring your bassoon for the Bassoon Day Ensemble Finale!
Guest bios:
Carlo Colombo
Born in Padua, Italy, Carlo Colombo has served as Principal Bassoon of the Lyon National Opera Orchestra since its inception in 1983. From 1978 to 1981 he was Principal Bassoon of the ensemble I Solisti Veneti, and has performed as guest principal bassoon with many European orchestras including the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the NDR Orchestra in Hamburg, the Orchestre de Paris, the Tonhalle Zürich and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Lucerne Festival Orchestra.
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Faculty member of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon since 2001, Mr.Colombo joined the faculty at the Lausanne Conservatory in Switzerland in 2005, and he was a guest professor at Indiana University and at the Oberlin Conservatory. Since 2021, he is Guest Professor at Akademia Muzyczna im. Krzysztofa Pendereckiego w Krakowie
Mr. Colombo received his “Diploma di Fagotto” from the Milano Conservatory, where he studied with Evandro Dall’Oca. He obtained his “Premier Prix de Virtuosité” from the Geneva Conservatory where he studied with Roger Birnstingl. He also studied with Brian Pollard in Amsterdam.
Marlène Ngalissamy 
Marlène Ngalissamy was appointed principal bassoon of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec in May 2022. She has also performed with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and as guest principal bassoon with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
She was recently invited to perform with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society in a program of works for bassoon, voice, and piano, and is on faculty of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada since summer 2023.
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Marlene has given masterclasses at the University of Ottawa, online with Bassoons Without Borders, and at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec. In 2020 and 2021, Marlène traveled to London, England to perform with the Chineke! Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall, where she recorded works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
Marlène studied with Mathieu Harel and Stéphane Lévesque at the Montréal Conservatory before completing a postgraduate diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Daniel Matsukawa. She is an alumna of the Domaine Forget, Orford, and Marlboro chamber music festival programs, as well as the Pacific Music Festival in Japan and Pablo Casals festival in France.