Cleveland Bassoon Quartet

The entertaining Cleveland Bassoon Quartet (CBQ) will perform at the Steele Memorial Bandstand at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug 21.

A rotating cast of Cleveland-based professional bassoonists (and their friends) perform together as The Cleveland Bassoon (CBQ) quartet whenever the winds of opportunity blow through feet upon feet of woody tubes. Known locally for their humorous yearly performance at the Cleveland Classical Revolution holiday show @ The Happy Dog, CBQ loves to come together to showcase the virtuosity and fun of the bassoon in concerts across the region. The band members are:

Arleigh Savage
Michigan born bassoonist Arleigh Savage is an active orchestral player, community organizer and educator. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and master’s from the Cleveland Institute of Music). She is the bassoon faculty member at Cleveland State University and co-founder of the North Coast Winds, a wind quintet celebrating their 10th season this year. Her most recent project is Sororii, a cello/bassoon duo that combines instruments, vocals and looping pedals to perform indie-world music with a focus on sisterhood across cultures. Sororii released their debut album, Esperanza, in 2022 with grant support from New Music USA.

Tom English
Tom English is principal bassoon of the West Virginia Symphony, a member of the Akron Symphony Orchestra and founding member of the reed trio, The Kalamos Trio. He currently serves as lecturer of bassoon at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music. Prior to moving to Cleveland, English served as principal bassoonist with the Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Symphony Orchestra and in 2018, he was appointed assistant principal bassoon with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. He is an alumnus of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and The Juilliard School. He hopes to connect, inspire and uplift others through his musical endeavors, creating a more loving, compassionate and caring world in which everyone can thrive.

Andy Sledge
Hailed by WQXR as a “remarkable bassoonist,” Andy Sledge has performed in concert halls, teahouses, opera pits, parking lots and video game soundtracks. As a winner of the 2022 Astral National Competition and a co-founder of the Bridge Bassoon Duo, Sledge is dedicated to uplifting marginalized voices through commissions and creative collaborations. Sledge serves as principal bassoon of the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Bassoon II of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and assistant professor of bassoon at West Virginia University. He is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the Yale School of Music.

Dana Brink
Bassoonist Dana Brink is forging a career in chamber music as a co-founder of the Bridge Bassoon Duo, specializing in contemporary classical music for two bassoons, and the bassoonist of the Wild Prairie Winds, a wind quintet dedicated to promoting accessible chamber music in small communities. Brink teaches Woodwind Pedagogy at West Virginia University and has performed with orchestras in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. She holds degrees in bassoon performance from the Yale School of Music and Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Frank Morelli, George Sakakeeny and John Hunt.