Bridge Bassoon Duo: Andy Sledge & Dana Brink
Based in Morgantown, West Virginia, the duo aims to highlight the capabilities of the ensemble through recitals, community engagement, and recordings, and to expand the bassoon duo repertoire through commissions, with a special focus on works by composers historically underrepresented in the Western canon.
Saturday, February 21, 2026 | Turner Recital Hall | 7:30 p.m.
Purchase Tickets: http://blair.live/022126-tix
About Andy Sledge:
Hailed by WQXR as a “remarkable bassoonist,” Andy Sledge (they/them) has performed in concert halls, teahouses, opera pits, parking lots, and video game soundtracks. They have commissioned and premiered works by composers of their generation, along with works for unaccompanied electric bassoon.
In 2022, Sledge co-founded the Bridge Bassoon Duo with bassoonist Dana Brink. Dedicated to promoting trans voices, the duo has commissioned music from composers including Meadow Bridgham and Maddy Wildman. As an orchestral musician, Sledge has performed with ensembles including Symphony in C and the West Virginia Symphony, and they were recently appointed as principal bassoon of the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. Sledge currently serves as assistant professor at West Virginia University, where they teach bassoon, chamber music, and music theory.
Beyond the university, they have shared educational and community engagement programs in public schools, arts centers, and retirement communities in Philadelphia and New Haven. Sledge is a doctor of musical arts candidate at the Yale School of Music, where they also earned their master’s degree. Sledge is a winner of the 2022 Astral Artists National Competition.
About Dana Brink:
Bassoonist Dana Brink enjoys a varied musical life of freelancing and private teaching in West Virginia, where she is an associate teacher of bassoon and music theory at West Virginia University’s Community Music Program.
Brink earned a master’s degree in bassoon performance from the Yale School of Music as a student of Frank Morelli and dual bachelor’s degrees in bassoon performance and political science from the Eastman School of Music/University of Rochester, where she studied with George Sakakeeny and John Hunt. She has performed with ensembles such as the Huntington Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Norwalk Symphony, and Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, and held fellowships at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the Brevard Music Center.
Brink is passionate about expanding the repertoire for bassoon chamber ensembles, especially by composers historically underrepresented in the Western canon. She is a co-founder of the Bridge Bassoon Duo and the creator of the Ten Reeds or Less YouTube channel, dedicated to recording the many excellent works for solo and small ensemble bassoon which previously lacked high-quality, easily accessible recordings. When she’s not playing bassoon, she loves to sew, knit, and do yoga.
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3408072-0
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3408072-2
