GARRETT MCQUEEN

Professional Bassoonist, Radio/Podcast Producer & Host

A proud native of Memphis, TN, Garrett McQueen is the host and producer of the nationally syndicated radio program, "Music Through the Night". He is also Executive Producer of TRILLOQUY. He has a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon from the University of Memphis, where he studied with Lecolion Washington. He also has a Master of Music in Bassoon from the University of Southern California, where he studied with Judith Farmer. 

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In 2012, McQueen was noted as one of America’s “most interesting classical musicians” by conductor and author of “The Real Toscanini: Musicians Reveal the Maestro”, Cesare Civetta. He has an affinity for 20th and 21st century music, driving his passion and performance of Eric Ewazen’s “Concerto for Bassoon and Wind Ensemble,” where Ewazen noted his “wonderful playing” and characterized him as someone who “gives a great performance of [his] piece”.

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Garrett has been heard as both a performer and guest host on APM's "Performance Today". He was featured as the principal bassoonist on the Memphis Repertory Orchestra's inaugural CD of works by Dvorak and Tchaikovsky. He has also appeared on a wide array of television shows, including Oxygen's "Snapped: Killer Couples", TV One's "Fatal Attraction", and Fox's "Glee". He has performed in multiple Broadway Musicals in Memphis under the baton of David Spencer and keeps himself busy in other free-lance activities, including being featured in Indie Rock tracks produced by Goner Records (2009) and True Panther Sounds (2010). ​

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Garrett has performed in venues across the country, including Los Angeles' Disney Hall, Detroit's Max M. Fischer Music Center, and New York's Carnegie Hall. He has also been a performing member of the American Youth Symphony, South Arkansas Symphony, Memphis Repertory Orchestra, Jackson Symphony, and the Eroica Ensemble. More recently, he has been performing with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and working with groups including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, the Artosphere and Gateways Festival Orchestras, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, the Southeast Symphony, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Garrett has given multiple solo recitals, where he has performed with the USC Scholarship Quintet, Godiva Woodwind Quintet, and Cooper-Young Winds. He has given master classes, and acted as a guest instructor for the Bahamas Music Conservatory and Idyllwild Arts Academy, adjudicating West Tennessee Band auditions. He also runs a teaching studio of flutists/oboists/bassoonists consisting of middle school, high school, and undergraduate college students.

Garrett is a strong advocate for the diversification of classical music and the advancement of black musicians in the field. He has spoken on diversity panels presented by the Gateways Music Festival, the Sphinx Organization and the Kennedy Center's Shift Festival, and continues in this work both in and out of concert halls. A lot of his work has been published, including "The Relationship Between Race and Classical Music" by Arts in a Changing America.

In an article produced by Current, McQueen was hailed as "a black talent in public media that you may not know, but should".