Bassoonist Jack Schiller

The Bassoon

Principal bassoon with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jack Schiller, discusses the new Bassoon Concerto he will premiere in July and his seven-year wait for a new instrument.

I played the clarinet to begin with, all through primary school. However, I wanted to play more than one instrument and the bassoon was presented as a rare instrument by a teacher when I was doing music camps in primary school, so it sparked my interest.

It was fine for a while moving between one instrument and the other but then obviously you have to specialise and focus on something to keep perfecting it over time.

I think in the end, the sound quality and the sound possibilities...