Bassoon Section
Photo Credit: Algis Kaupas
Lou began studying bassoon in 1957 as a student of Robert Schaffer, Principal Bassoon of the Hartford Symphony, and Harold Goltzer, Associate Principal Bassoon of the New York Philharmonic. He was a scholarship student at Hartt College of Music from which he received his Bachelor of Music Education degree (1961) and his Master of Applied Music degree in bassoon in 1962.
Lou won the Hartford Symphony Assistant Principal Bassoon audition in 1968. While continuing in this capacity, he presently serves as Acting Principal Bassoon for the 2003 – 2004 season. He has also been a member of the Connecticut Opera Orchestra since 1968 and was a member of the Berkshire Opera Orchestra.
Lou retired from public school education in 1993 after a 32 year career in area schools, including East Windsor, Vernon, and South Windsor. Since his retirement, he enjoys and extravagance previously unknown – free time!
Photo Credit: Algis Kaupas
The families of his four children live close by his Coventry residence. His eight beloved grandchildren, (musicians in their own right) call him “Papa” or “Grandpa”, and are often at his home during the limitless opportunities for visits. He and his wife, Margo (Mimi to the grandkids), find that two annual trips to their second home in North Port, Florida are becoming routine.
To finally find time to devote exclusively to the bassoon and to family is truly a luxury after more than three decades of distractions and annoying interruptions. To be spared the 5:00AM wake-up calls five mornings a week, marching band and football games, parades and most perplexing, the philistine administrators with whom one was forced to work is the true personification of the term “Golden Years”.