Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra
Concerts & Events Buy Tickets How to Prepare California Compositions Support Us About Us Location Contact Us
2005 - 2006, 9th Season
 
David Granger, Principal Bassoon

You Are Here: Home » About Us » Orchestra » David Granger, Principal Bassoon

David Granger, Principal Bassoon


David Granger

 David Granger not only serves as principal bassoonist for the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, but also with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, the Napa Valley Symphony, the Fremont Philharmonic, and is a member of the Oakland East Bay Symphony. He currently resides in the San Francisco Bay area where he works as a freelance musician performing in orchestras throughout Northern California. Mr. Granger is also the bassoon instructor at the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific in Stockton for the 2007/2008 year and is performing with the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet , the faculty quintet.

Mr. Granger attended Indiana University's Early Music Institute and recieved a Performers Diploma in baroque bassoon in 2004. In 2005, he founded Passamezzo Moderno , a period ensemble that performs the music of three centuries, from 1530 to 1830, and specializes in the virtuoso music of the 17th century.

Born in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Mr. Granger began studies at the age of eight on the clarinet. His clarinet teacher, Michael Spielman, principal bassoonist of the Kansas City Philharmonic, encouraged his student to switch to bassoon at the age of 13.             

After studying two years at the University of Kansas with Austin Ledwith, Mr. Granger received his Bachelor of Music in 1973 and his Master of Music in 1975 from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. His teachers included Harold Goltzer of the New York Philharmonic and Elias Carmen, formerly of the NBC Symphony under Toscanini, and Stephen Maxym of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 1974 he won the school's annual concerto competition and performed the Weber Concert in F Major with the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra. From 1973 to 1977, Mr. Granger was a member of the prestigious National Orchestra Association, a training orchestra for young professionals that regularly performed in Carnegie Hall.

From 1975 to 1981, Mr. Granger worked in the busy freelance world of New York City, performing with a number of that city's famous orchestras as well as pursuing an active chamber music career. He was a founding member of the Manhattan Woodwind Quintet, resident quintet at the C.W. Post Center of Long Island University and winner of the 1978 Artists International Competition, making its Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1979. In 1981, Mr. Granger commuted to Florida to play principal bassoon in the West Palm Beach Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Granger was principal bassoonist of the Sacramento Symphony from 1981 until its bankruptcy in 1996. In 1982 he began teaching at the University of California, Davis, and in 1985, became coordinator of the music department's student chamber music program. During the fall of 1998, Mr. Granger taught as a sabbatical replacement at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California and performed concerts in Sacramento, Stockton and Davis with the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet. In the fall of 2005, he taught again as a sabbatical replacement at California State University, Stanislaus.

Mr. Granger was a strong advocate of symphonic music while in Sacramento. When the Sacramento Symphony ceased operations in December 1992, Mr. Granger, with other musicians and dedicated music lovers, created the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, a musician managed symphony (no association with the current organization with this name.) As President of the Philharmonic, he helped keep the symphony musicians performing for Sacramento audiences through the spring of 1993, with the revival of the Sacramento Symphony. Mr. Granger served as Secretary on the Board of Directors, and then continued his active role as coordinator of the Sacramento Symphony's very sucessful 1995 and 1996 World View Music Festivals.