Highland Park ISD bassoonists brought some festive cheer to a Richardson retirement community during their annual holiday performance on Dec. 18.
The district’s seventh-to 12th-graders performed classics including “Deck the Halls,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Feliz Navidad” to applause from residents of The El Dorado-Sky Active Living.
Their music was part of the 20th annual Bassoon Christmas, an event that HPISD private bassoon teacher Leslie Massenburg organized while she was still working on her master’s degree at SMU. Massenburg is now a professor at UT Arlington, plays in many different orchestras, and teaches throughout the Dallas area. She writes most of her students’ holiday arrangements herself.
HPISD students performed this year with young bassoonists from Richardson and Wylie.
El-Dorado-Sky resident Julianna Howard said she’s heard bassoon performances before, but nothing like this one.
“They’re wonderful! It was great,” she said. “They couldn’t have been better!”
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“To put it mildly, those kids were so uplifted, and they seemed to be excited about what they were doing” resident Charlotte Holmquest remarked. “And that makes a beautiful difference in how they perform.”
Bassoons usually blend into the orchestra — they don’t often carry the melody. Click HERE to watch Highland Park Middle School students Cody Hale and Gray Rosen perform “Away in a Manger” with accompaniment from Massenburg and SMU student Camille Camacho.
And stay tuned to learn more about these talented young musicians in Park Cities People‘s February issue.
