Summer Program Brings a Connecting Bridge to Santa Barbara

Summer Program Brings
a Connecting Bridge
to Santa Barbara

Compeer Spotlight on
Dennis Thompson and Lois Phillips
& Music Academy Fellow Sarah Bobrow

By Grace Rachow | July 27, 2023

Read our cover story about the Music Academy’s Compeer Program here.

It’s an enriching relationship,” architect Dennis Thompson said of being involved with the Compeer program. He and his wife, educator, author, and public speaker Lois Phillips, have participated two times before, once with a collaborative pianist and then with a solo pianist. It’s a great way to support the Music Academy. This summer, they’re paired with bassoonist Sarah Bobrow.

“Getting to know Sarah and learning about the bassoon has been quite an experience,” Phillips said. “There’s much people don’t realize about this instrument. Did you know bassoonists make their own reeds? They spend nearly as much time perfecting that craft as they do practicing.”

The Compeers go to Summer Festival performances, of course, but one of the most fascinating opportunities is attending master classes. These sessions are open to the public for a small fee. “We get to see the teaching process. After initial instructive comments by the teaching artist, the bassoonists are asked to play solos or duets. They get positive and supportive comments,” Thompson said.

The Compeers provide a stage-door entourage the young musicians can count on and friendly faces in the audience. In addition, the community members do their best to provide an easy social network, a sense of having a home away from home. First order of socializing is often local sightseeing.

Outings with Bobrow have included a close-up look at Coast Village Road, a sampling of local restaurants, and an architectural tour of downtown Santa Barbara. The couple has invited Bobrow to their home for Mexican food and included the other three bassoon fellows: Xavion Patterson, Samuel Watson, and Kahlan Yenney, as well as their Compeers.

“By the end of the summer, we feel like surrogate parents. We have the sense we’re a tangible success factor in their experience,” said Thompson. “All the young musicians are hard-working and dedicated to a life in music, and the Compeer program offers them true personal connections to Santa Barbara. The hope is to forge a long-lasting friendship. We look forward to following their future careers,” said Phillips.

Bobrow is equally positive about her experience so far. She graduated this spring from Julliard with her master’s. Being selected for the Music Academy summer program was the fulfillment of a longtime goal. Spending quality time with Thompson and Phillips has added a special dimension to what would otherwise be a complete focus on music. After living in New York City, Bobrow appreciates the contrast of being in Santa Barbara. “There is so much space between things here. And it’s great having a real beach. The coast here is very different than New York beaches,” Bobrow said. 

She relies on public transit and fellow musicians with cars to get to and from the Westmont campus, where all the participants in the program are housed for the summer, and Miraflores, the stunning 10-acre garden estate that has been home to the Music Academy since 1951.

When asked how she chose the bassoon for her instrument, Bobrow said, “It was when I was 11.” Her older brother, also a musician, was told by his teacher it was much easier for woodwind players to find a permanent seat with a symphony if they were bassoonists. That made good practical sense to Bobrow.

Her chosen instrument has a deep,
resonant tone that can be playful as well as haunting. One has only to compare Saint-Saëns’s Sonata for Bassoon and Piano in G Major, Op. 168, with Weber’s Bassoon Concerto in F Major, Op. 75, to fully grasp the range of possibilities.

Bobrow explained the process of making the double reeds that are a part of the reason for the bassoon’s distinctive sound. It’s a painstaking process requiring space, special equipment, and patience. Reed-making takes time, but well-made reeds are critical to the best sound. 

Bobrow has a few students of her own, but her life focus is to earn a seat with a major symphony. She’s about to embark on the challenging process of auditioning for open positions. It is a highly competitive process requiring talent, training, experience, and determination to succeed. Her Compeers, Thompson and Phillips, will be rooting for her in the years to come. Her positive and resilient mindset should continue to serve her well.