David Granger, bassoon
Born in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, David Granger began studies at the age of 8 on clarinet. His clarinet teacher, Michael Spielman, principal bassoonist of the Kansas City Philharmonic, encouraged his talented 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, 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 Concerto in F Major with the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra. From 1973 to 1977, Mr. Granger was a member of the prestigious National Orchestral 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. The ensemble made 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. Mr. Granger was a strong advocate of symphonic music while in Sacramento. When the Sacramento Symphony first 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 in 1993. Mr. Granger served as Secretary of the Board of Directors, and continued his active role as coordinator of the Sacramento Symphony’s very successful 1995 and 1996 World View Music Festivals.
In 1982, Mr. Granger began teaching at the University of California, Davis, and in 1985, became coordinator of the music department’s student chamber music program. He joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, in 2000. During 2007/08 academic year, he taught at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California and performed with the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet.
Mr. Granger currently resides in the San Francisco Bay area where he works as a freelance musician performing in orchestras throughout northern California. He currently holds positions as principal bassoonist of the Napa Valley Symphony, the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, the Fremont Symphony, and is a member of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and Marin Symphony.
Mr. Granger attended Indiana University’s Early Music Institute and received 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 instrumental music of the 17th century.
Laura Reynolds, oboe
Laura Reynolds is an active chamber and orchestral performer throughout Northern California. She is principal oboist with the Santa Rosa and California Symphonies, English hornist with the Marin Symphony, and has appeared as soloist with all three organizations. Ms. Reynolds also performs regularly with a number of other regional orchestras. She has enjoyed chamber music since high school and was a founding member of Citywinds, a San Francisco based woodwind quintet dedicated to performing music by living composers.
Ms. Reynolds performed with the Virginia Symphony for the 1998-1999 season and has been a recurring substitute with the San Francisco Symphony, where she was acting English Horn for the 2003-2004 season. She has also performed with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, the Carmel Bach Festival and the Virginia Symphony and has most recently appeared as soloist with Symphony of the Redwoods (2012) the Sault Symphony of Ontario, Canada (2010) and the California Symphony (2010).
A native of New York State, Ms. Reynolds started her formal musical training at age 7 with piano lessons, and at the suggestion of her musician father, first picked up the oboe in the summer before 4th grade. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Harry Sargous, and her Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, under the guidance of William Bennett. During her collegiate years, Ms. Reynolds attended the Music Academy of the West, the National Orchestral Institute, the Sarasota Music Festival and the Bach Aria Festival and Institute at Stonybrook. She won her first orchestral position, with the Santa Rosa Symphony as second oboe/English horn, just after graduation and was promoted to principal oboist in 2014.
Ms. Reynolds enjoys teaching. Formerly lecturer in oboe at UC Davis (2000-2015), she joined the applied faculty at Sonoma State University in 2013. She is also a member of the Pre-College and Extension Division faculty and staff at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she teaches oboe and also works as Ensembles Coordinator and Project Manager.
Outside of her musical pursuits, Ms Reynolds enjoys hiking, bird watching, traveling to National Parks, and visiting international destinations.
Patricia Shands, clarinet
Clarinetist Patricia Shands has appeared to popular and critical acclaim throughout the United States, South America, and Europe. Her performances have been applauded by the critics of such publications as The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Il Giornale (Milan), Fanfare, and The American Record Guide.
Ms. Shands has performed as concerto soloist with the symphonies of Stockton, Portland, Cape Ann, Round Top, Chautauqua, Colorado Philharmonic, the St. John’s Orchestra and the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogotá. In 1994, she was a featured soloist for composer Luciano Berio’s presentation of the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University. She has appeared at the summer festivals of Spoleto (Italy), Round Top, Chautauqua, Bear Valley, Bellingham, and the National Repertory Orchestra as well as the Wellesley Composers Conference, the New Hampshire Music Festival, the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, and the April in Santa Cruz New Music Festival.
A prizewinner in the Concert Artists Guild Competition and a recipient of the prestigious John Knowles Paine Award, Ms. Shands has collaborated in chamber music performances with many of the finest musicians of today. She currently performs with the Ariel Ensemble and the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet and she was a founding member of the award-winning Block Ensemble and Alma Ensemble. With these groups she has toured throughout the United States.
Her frequent appearances at the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival have led to critically acclaimed recordings of works by Bartók, Dahl, and Guastavino. Bagatelles and Waltzes, a recording of music for clarinet and piano by Lutoslawski, Finzi, Arnold, and others met with enthusiastic reviews upon its release in 1996. Her most recent release, Works for Clarinet and Piano, features music by Poulenc, Prokofiev, Horovitz and the late Ron Caviani–former double bassist with the Stockton Symphony. In addition, Ms. Shands has been featured on NBC’s Today Show, National Public Radio’s Performance Today, and regional live broadcasts by WGBH (Boston), KXPR (Sacramento), and WVPR (Vermont Public Radio). Her live performance recording of the Dahl Concerto a tre is featured by Art of the States.
A native of Auburn, Alabama, Ms. Shands received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. At the completion of her studies, she was invited to serve as Principal Clarinetist of the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogotá. Following a residency at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, she attended the University of Southern California, studying clarinet with Mitchell Lurie and David Shifrin and taking her Master of Music degree. She spent several years in New England performing as a member of the Block Ensemble and the symphonies of Portland and Vermont as well as teaching at Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire. After returning for doctoral studies at Rice University, Ms. Shands joined the faculty of the University of the Pacific in 1995 where she is currently Professor of Clarinet and Director of Chamber Music in the Conservatory of Music. In addition to her solo and chamber performances, she is currently a member of the Stockton Symphony and Sacramento Philharmonic orchestras.