Carpe Diem
Honouring a Legend of the Bassoon World
With his passing at age 95 in February, 2023, George Zukerman left us the indelible legacy of a life lived to the full.
He also left 23 enormous storage boxes of bassoon music.
George’s friends Jesse Read and Nadina Mackie agreed to help his widow Erika Bennedik find a place for this unique collection. This legacy of a life-long dedication to the bassoon deserved a home, but where could it go? University libraries are no longer effective repositories for reams of paper scores. Was a beach bonfire the only alternative?
The Council of Canadian Bassoonists decided to find a digital solution. We searched for a capable person to curate the collection, scan thousands of its pages and make much of its most valuable content available online. Recent University of Toronto bassoon graduate Dr. Zachary Senick agreed to take on the task. With Erika’s generous financial assistance, the GZ Library is now ready for your perusal.
Two formidable challenges were immediately present. What pieces were truly important and unique, and how much of that music was in the public domaine? Zachary’s knowledge of copyright law – and of bassoon repertoire in general – guided his selection of what we could present on this website.
Mozart, Vivaldi, Weber, Telemann…? Not here! While they filled some of those 23 boxes, most of that core repertoire is available online already. So, Zachary chose the really special parts of the collection you won’t find elsewhere on sites like IMSLP.
The good news? Many rare and interesting works are now available to you for discovery and download. We have also included snapshots for the vast collection George presented during a lifetime of touring and exploration. If you discover something among these copyrighted works that interest you, please send us a message. We can discuss sharing original parts or help further your search.
And the boxes? After all the scanning and organization was there a bonfire?
Miraculously, the boxes found a home in a storage facility organized by Eric Hall at the University of Toronto.
Erika has the extra room back, the bassoon world has a treasure trove of curious repertoire, and George’s legacy lives on.
Curious about George Zukerman?
His autobiography Have Bassoon Will Travel is wonderful.
Read these beautiful memories…
Or this touching tribute…
