This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. Louis Symphony orchestra played the first measures of Tchaikovsky through tears. The tears had begun earlier during a long moment of silence for a young orchestra member, Andrew Thompson, who died suddenly the day before. Gordon also plays viola for the Chamber Music Society of St.
She had heard the news the night before during a dress rehearsal. They dedicated the movement to the young man everyone called Drew. Thompson was a contrabassoonist and bassoonist. He had realized his dream of joining his hometown orchestra just over a year ago. They were about to practice a new swing dance, one of Mr. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Saint Louis University Hospital.
He was His mother, Jackie Stilwell of Webster Groves, said that the cause of death has not been verified, but the medical examiner believes Mr. Thompson suffered from an inherited heart condition that left 95 percent of a heart artery blocked. The contra, sometimes called a double bassoon or bass bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon that requires different fingering skills.
Louis Post-Dispatch last year. The fourth of five children, he was from a decidedly musical family. His father plays guitar, his mother is a band director, and his sister and three brothers all play instruments, one professionally. Thompson told the Post-Dispatch. His first teacher was Donita Bauer.
She taught him at the Community Music School of Webster University, where he received an artistic merit scholarship. Years later, he would borrow a contrabassoon from Bauer to brush up on the instrument for his Symphony audition.
