There aren’t many saxophone and bassoon duos. We first met as students at Louisiana State University. After graduating and losing touch for a few years, the magic of social media and LSU sports brought us together first as friends, then as musical colleagues. When we remembered watching our teachers perform together on one particular concert, we were inspired by our non-traditional combination of instruments to perform together. Frustrated by the lack of existing works for our ensemble, we began to arrange existing pieces, and also turned to our composer friends and colleagues and challenged them to write new works for the newly formed Post-Haste Reed Duo.
Our mission is two-fold: to increase the amount of quality chamber music literature for saxophone and bassoon duo and to encourage young musicians to experiment performing in non-traditional chamber ensembles. We do this when we collaborate with composers towards new works for us that highlight the capabilities of our two instruments individually and together.
As you might imagine, there are still not many works for saxophone and bassoon duo. We strive to change that by commissioning composers from a wide range of musical styles and diverse backgrounds to build a new repertoire, which in turn will introduce a growing audience to the endless possibilities of new music.
Sean Fredenburg serves as the Instructor of Saxophone at Portland State University where he teaches applied saxophone, chamber music, aural skills, and woodwind techniques. He is dedicated to promoting new music works by many bright young composers. Outside of the university setting, he is the saxophone chamber music coach for the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble, and appears as artist faculty at Woodwinds at Wallowa Lake. He has also previously served as instructor of saxophone and world music at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Sean holds degrees from Louisiana State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Oregon. His primary teachers have been Griffin Campbell, Steven Stusek, and Idit Shner.
Javier Rodriguez is the Associate Professor of Bassoon and Director of Graduate Studies at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho where he teaches studio bassoon and performs with the Northwest Wind Quintet and Hammers & Reeds Faculty Trio. Prior to his position at the U of I, he taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Rodriguez has held numerous orchestral positions through out the United States including engagements with the Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Valdosta, and Walla Walla Symphonies, the Louisiana Sinfonietta, the Natchez Opera Festival Orchestra, and the Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra. In the summer, Rodriguez teaches at the University of Idaho Summer Music Camp, and has previously taught at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, the Vianden International Music Festival and School in Luxembourg, the LSU Honors Chamber Winds Camp, the FSU Summer Music Camps Double Reed Workshop, and has served as a Teaching Assistant at the Brevard Music Festival. Rodriguez holds a Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University, Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Louisiana State University, and has also studied at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His teachers include Jeffrey Keesecker, William Ludwig and William Winstead.