Matthew
Rasmussen

Bassoon

Matthew Rasmussen fancies himself a performer, composer, educator, activist, and musician extraordinaire. 

Ensembles Matthew has performed with professionally include the Sacramento Philharmonic, Bakersfield Symphony, American Youth Symphony, and Solano Symphony, where he performed the Weber Bassoon Concerto. Currently the principal bassoonist and Orchestra Manager of the Santa Monica Symphony and a fellow with the Civic Orchestra of Los Angeles, Matthew recently completed his tenure as the principal bassoon fellow of the California Young Artists Symphony, culminating in a performance of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

Apart from his orchestral pursuits, Matthew is currently the bassoonist for Fivemind Reeds, a professional Los Angeles-based reed quintet striving towards presenting accessible and equitable classical music performances who are two-time Sound Garden Project artists-in-residence at Interlochen Public Radio, returning for a third consecutive summer in July 2025.

When away from the bassoon, Matthew also composes, writing percussion ensemble works, chamber music, and even performing his own Suite for Bassoon and Strings with the UC Davis Sinfonietta. A strong advocate for music education, new music, and social justice in the arts, Matthew has commissioned new bassoon works and works for Fivemind by professional composers, and actively includes pieces by women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ composers in his repertoire. Matthew has a private teaching studio in West Los Angeles, serves as the bassoon coach at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, and is on the faculty at Moorpark College. He hopes to continue to expand the bassoon’s repertoire, and teach students not to fear the bassoon, but instead love and appreciate it as he does.

Matthew holds bachelor’s degrees in music and linguistics from UC Davis, studying bassoon with David Granger and composition with Laurie San Martin, and a Master of Music degree in bassoon from UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, studying with John Steinmetz. At UCLA, Matthew performed Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Ciranda das sete notas with the UCLA Philharmonia as a winner of the school’s concerto competition.

In his free time, Matthew enjoys cooking and playing video games.