(gentle classical music) - Bassoon, obviously, is in the woodwind family.

It's a double-reed instrument, and we are in the lower end of the sound spectrum.

We have a supporting role in the woodwinds, and sometimes we are doubling the bass and cellos with the low strings.

So I sometimes see us as a bridge in between woodwinds and strings.

Oftentimes, we have a solo role as well.

There's a lot of great composers that write for bassoon.

Antonio Vivaldi, the Italian composer, wrote 39 bassoon concertos.

Tchaikovsky wrote many beautiful bassoon solos, or we have "The Rite of Spring" by Igor Stravinsky.

(gentle classical music) I want the bassoon to sound like a singer, you know, to sound like a tenor or sound like a bass.

I always wanted to be able to sing on the instrument, so that's why, therefore, for me, the bassoon is my voice.

I'm Fei Xie, and I'm the principal bassoonist of the Minnesota Orchestra.

(gentle bassoon music) Andre Jolivet was a French composer.

Jolivet was inspired by Messiaen, and later in his career, he started simplifying his music.

So in this concerto, you hear a lot of neoclassicism and a lot of influence in jazz.

It demands a high level of virtuosity from the soloist to play this piece.

It's even more challenging to play on German bassoon.

(gentle bassoon music) (utensils clinking) So here's is one of our kind of regular dinner type thing.

The hot pot is traditional Chinese, very popular way of eating.

(Colin speaking Chinese) - We have a relatively small family (laughs) because I'm an only child.

So it was my parents who are living in Minnesota now really close to us and my wife.

Her name's also Fei.

She is a flute player.

(bright classical music) And I have two boys, Kevin and Colin.

So there's six of us total in the family, and we get together pretty much every week.

(laughs) (utensils clinking) I was born in Tangshan in Hebei Province in China, and my family were all musicians.

So of course, I start learning music at very young age.

I started playing the piano before I turned four years old.

I did that for about eight years.

My parents decided that I should go pro (laughs) playing music.

(gentle classical music) One of the things you can do in China is there are these conservatories in Beijing or Shanghai.

So I applied as a pianist when I was 12 years old.

It was clear to us and to the faculty there that I was not going to get in.

So they suggest that if I really wanna go to school there, I should explore other instruments.

(laughs) And the bassoon professor asked me if I want to learn bassoon.

And at that point, I have no idea what bassoon was.

(Fei laughing) I just said, "Yeah, if you teach me how to play the bassoon, I'll learn the bassoon."

Fei and I went to school together when we were 12.

We played chamber music together.

- We did middle school and high school together.

We were in the same class, yeah.

(laughs) (gentle classical music) - I left China right after high school.

My parents have already left.

They came to US before me, and then they know that in order for me to continue to grow as a musician play Western instrument, I need to further my study here.

So that was kind of the planning that my dad had, the vision he had for our family, for me.

So I went to Oberlin for my undergrad where I learned a lot from my teacher, George Sakakeeny.

And then I went to Rice University in Houston where I studied with my former teacher, Ben Kamins, who was a former associate principal bassoon at the Minnesota Orchestra.

So now I'm back to his old stomping ground.

(gentle classical music) I started my first job playing the opera house in Houston, and then I moved to Baltimore Symphony, and then I end up here in Minnesota.

I came eight seasons ago, and I've been enjoying every minute of it.

It's a great section to work with.

And the rest of the people in the wind section, the whole orchestra, too, everybody's so supportive of each other.

You know, we have differences.

We think about things differently.

Everybody have different approach.

We always work it together to come up with a solution to better serve the music, so it's great.

It's a dream job.

(gentle classical music) Chris and I worked the longest together in the section, and he's a great support of what I do when we're on stage playing.

Chris is also the faculty team with me to teach the whole bassoon studio at the University of Minnesota.

(gentle classical music) I mainly teach bassoon performance, and I run studio class, and sometimes I teach chamber music.

You can take a little bit of time on these phrases.

♪ Dee, da, da, dee, dee, dee, da, da ♪ Teaching for me is something that I enjoy a lot.

I didn't really know how to do it when I was younger, but then once you start doing it, you kind of learn as you go.

You learn from how to teach, but also you learn from how student respond and how student is developing.

(gentle bassoon music) - Some people they play really well, but they cannot explain something really well.

But he can really, and he really helped me a lot to improve myself in my way.

I'm pretty lucky.

(laughs) (gentle bassoon music) - You want the best for your students, and I notice that you're very kind, and- - Well, that's good, very kind for you to say.

- That's what I notice.

(Fei laughing) (gentle bassoon music) - We talk about what we can do together to improve our students' playing, and oftentimes, we're realizing we're saying the same thing.

- It sounds.

♪ Ba, ba, ba, da ♪ - We have students getting jobs.

That's our goal.

Hopefully, they'll succeed in their career.

- Hopefully, some of them we'll see again.

- Yeah.

(both laughing) You know, as a parent, I want to help my children, but also I want them to explore on their own.

It's the same kind of feeling when I'm teaching my students.

I wanna give them something and then see what they can do with it.

(gentle classical music) As you can imagine, as professional musicians, if your kids are learning (laughs) instruments, it is quite challenging for them, for us, too, because we hold very high standards for what we do, but they're just kids.

- My name is Colin, and I play the cello.

- I'm Kevin, and I play the piano and the flute.

- Colin started out playing piano a little bit, but we asked him, you know, other instruments he wants to play.

He says he wants to play the cello.

I asked him why.

He said, well, "'Cause I want to maybe someday play a duet with you," so I thought, "Okay, great."

We are actually working on a piece together right now for his teacher's recital.

We had Kevin join to play the piano part for us.

He's not sure if he wants to play the recital yet, (laughs) but at least we get him to rehearse with us.

(gentle classical music) Okay, good job.

(Mei Hu speaking Chinese) - Mom's saying that she's really happy that we are putting our kids' education as a priority.

I have to say I learned that from my parents because (laughs) that's what they did for me.

So we're just passing down to our children.

So this is my mom Mei Hu, and this is my dad.

His name's Zhengang Xie, but my dad is what they call jing hu master.

Jing hu is a two-string fiddle instrument.

My mom is what they call a yue qin master.

Yue qin is also known as moon guitar.

It has three strings, so that's two of the main instruments in Peking opera that they've been practicing since they were very young.

(gentle classical music) (Zhengang Xie speaking Chinese) - 'Cause we are all musicians, and we think, "When can we be on stage together?"

and it just happened the first Lunar New Year concert we had.

My parents were soloing with the orchestra, I'm playing, and then the orchestra need a flute player, and they called my wife.

(dramatic classical music) So all four of us were on stage together.

- I played in the concert.

I felt goosebump and then felt really great opportunity that we can celebrate our traditional festival holidays in a different place.

(laughs) It felt very special.

(energetic classical music) - My role is artistic consultant for the Lunar New Year concert for the Minnesota Orchestra, and that was our first Lunar New Year concert in 2022.

I've been working with the artistic team ever since.

Every culture celebrate their new years in their own ways.

And I think it's great that we bring this piece of culture from Far East, and it's not just China that celebrates Lunar New Year.

There's a lot of Asian countries celebrates Lunar New Year.

So we bring this to the orchestra hall for people who are from those countries to come to celebrate and for people who are not to experience this new thing in the orchestra hall.

I think it's just great to bring people in together and spending time with music.

(energetic classical music) (audience cheering and applauding) In China, we're taught to be humble.

(laughs) So a lot of times we don't think about what we're proud of ourselves.

I think what I'm really proud of is that I'm doing something I love, and because of doing that, I could have this beautiful family.

It makes me feel proud, I guess, for what I have achieved through hard works and with the support of my family, and my friends, and my colleagues.

You know, it's been journey, and it's a great journey.

(dramatic classical music) (audience cheering and applauding)