SigMT

Dean Zook Dean Zook dressed as e Beast for his Holiday Spooktacular contrabassoon part in Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. "Using the contrabassoon as "the beast" in "Beauty and the Beast" is right on, both because the contrabassoon plays in such a low range and because the instrument itself is such a "beast" due to its size," he said. "Playing any kind of a solo is exciting because it means everybody is listening to you and a bit scary for the same reason." Dean has played bassoon since 1964, and was taking lessons from the principal bassoonist when the Symphony bought the contrabassoon in 1988. In March of 1999, he played contrabassoon in the Symphony for the first time during the premier of "From the Journals of Lewis and Clark." He has been playing with the Great Falls Symphony ever since and considers himself very lucky. "Playing with the Great Falls Symphony has been, for a person like me who does not have a music degree, a dream come true." Dean joined the Great Falls Model Railroad Club in 1997 and, in 2015, was elected president of the Montana Museum of Railroad History. One of his earliest memories is of being on a train during a family trip from southern California to Illinois in, he thinks, the summer of 1950. As a young child, he recalls lile more than "siing in the lounge car drinking from a cup of water that had been poured from a jug or bole being passed around." ~Julia Moss is a eelance photographer/videographer, baker, gardener and cat mom who has documented every corner of Montana. Have stories? Will travel! SiG MT 27

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