The Principal chair in a professional orchestra is a tremendously competitive and difficult accomplishment. Yet bassoonist Andrew Brady — who has been Principal Bassoon in The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra since the 2022-23 season — held that high profile job in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for six years, and for two years before that with the Louisiana Philharmonic. I had the honor of interviewing Andrew Brady, and you can hear our conversation using the link below. (Some of my favorite parts include his story about how he chose the bassoon and first started learning to play it, his role models, the importance of his family in his life, and his commissioning of a composition based on a poem his grandmother wrote. Today’s Beautiful Music features Andrew Brady as the soloist with his colleagues in The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra playing Antonio Vivaldi’s Bassoon Concerto in d minor. The link will take you to the full concert, where you can scroll down to Andrew’s performance.