Raised by rock drummers, trained in a jazz band, and educated at Juilliard—one of the most distinguished conservatories in the world—Evan Kuhlmann is the kind of person who just loves good music. Especially if it has a funky bassoon bass line. “It doesn’t matter if it’s John Adams, Brahms, or Bach, or anything modern,” he says.
As a bassoon and contrabassoon player for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Kuhlmann says he’s not here to bask in the spotlight. He’s in it for the journey and the joy along the way. Here, he shares some of his favorite pieces, collaborations, and fanboy moments as an LA Phil musician.
Since joining the LA Phil in 2018, what have been the highlights of your career?
It’s hard to say…. As much as I love performing here [at Walt Disney Concert Hall], it’s hard to beat the tours in terms of some of the memories that we make. Some of the things that have been really fun for me have been performing at these larger venues around the world—the Olympic arena in Seoul, huge auditoriums in Mexico. Some of them must have been close to 10,000 seats!
The Hollywood Bowl is kind of like that, too, and I definitely have a soft spot for it. We’ve had some performances there that have just been out of this world. The first week that I worked here, I performed during the annual John Williams concert, and I don’t think I’d played anything like that before. I’ve played his music in a 2,000-seat hall, but to play for a full house of 18,000 people with lightsabers?! I was just so overwhelmed by that. The energy was really amazing, and I feel like that’s something that you just don’t see anywhere else.
Another one of my highlights was performing with Christina Aguilera [in 2021] and Ricky Martin [in 2022]. I’m in my 40s now, and I’m a child of the ’90s, so those were fanboy moments for me! I love singers of the modern day that are at that level, like Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Christina, [and those who] owe a lot to Whitney Houston and [vocalists going back even further].
I missed Whitney Houston at the Bowl [in 1993], but I’ve enjoyed watching Mariah and her ascendance. If the LA Phil can play with Mariah, I’ll retire!
Do you remember what it was like to first play with an orchestra?
I started playing piano very young and didn’t ever think I’d play with other people. But then, I picked up the clarinet, and the first time I played with the full school band was revelatory. To go from just practicing piano by myself to playing with 100 kids was just… [speechless]
Just hearing all the different parts and timbres of the instruments…I’m still addicted to that today as a bassoon player. That’s why I do this.
I also love other kinds of ensemble playing, too. Chamber music is a good change of pace. I was requested to play Hindemith’s Octet, a bucket-list piece for me, so I felt like I definitely needed to do it. And I think it was Jarrett Threadgill who asked me to do Meeelaan [in 2022], which is a piece for bassoon and string quartet by Wynton Marsalis. I was flattered and intimidated because it’s hard, and the bassoon has such a solo role in it.
But I think part of the reason I said yes was that I wanted to stretch myself, and it ended up being such a positive experience. It was a great opportunity to learn a really great piece.
It’s like I tell my students, “You have to fall in love with the journey, because there’s no specific arrival point.” By the time you even reach this point of playing
If you can turn the fact that there’s no limit to how much you can improve or strive for into a good thing, it’s a very healthy framing to have.
Which piece of music…
…makes you smile?
There are so many answers. One that comes to mind is John Adams’ Chamber Symphony. My parents were both rock drummers, and this piece just rocks so hard. There’s a place in the last movement where I just start head banging! It’s wild. John Adams says it’s influenced by cartoon music, and it totally is—just goofy. I haven’t played it here yet, but I’d love to do it.
…brings you to tears?
I’ve cried a couple times while playing because you just can’t help it. The last movement of Mahler Three is one of those pieces that kind of turn me into a sloppy mess.
The last movement of Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony is also just so gorgeous. I think the composer said that he was influenced by watching swans flying over the water.
And there’s a piece by Ralph Vaughan Williams called The Lark Ascending that I grew up with. My parents, despite being rock musicians, listened to that a lot, and if I’m not mistaken, they want it to be played at both of their funerals! Maybe that’s too dark to say, but it’s pretty beautiful.
…gives you chills?
Oh, I love these moments in music. There’s a piece by Missy Mazzoli called Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres), and the first time I played it, it changed my idea of what an orchestra could sound like.
I just remember my jaw falling down, like, “Yeah, let’s do more of this—all the time.” We need more imagination! One thing you have to do in this piece is play harmonicas. [The composer] is very aware of where musicians are onstage, [so the instruments help the piece] create its own environment.
One of the most exciting things to me is that this art form is still alive and still growing. I don’t think we’ve done [the piece] here, but I hope we do it soon. It’s phenomenal.
I could have also answered Debussy’s [Prelude to the] Afternoon of a Faun as a piece that makes me cry and gives me chills because it’s one of the most perfectly composed pieces of music ever written. There isn’t a note that’s out of place, there’s no extra notes, and there’s no missing notes. It’s not too little. It’s not too much. It’s exactly right and doesn’t get much better than that!
What makes your instrument so special?
Oh gosh, there’s so much I want people to know about the contrabassoon. I obviously play it because I think it’s the greatest instrument. I love the sound of it, and it takes a very particular kind of person to play it.
Generally speaking, it’s the deepest, lowest instrument—the bass voice. I mean, you feel so acutely its vibration. The high frequencies are close together, but it’s the lower ones that are almost soothing to play. I love being the subwoofer of the orchestra. All I can say is, I think it’s the best position in the orchestra!
When we played with Snarky Puppy [in 2019], one of the bass solos from the album had been written out solely for contrabassoon, bass clarinet, and tuba. I was a jazz-band kid in school, so playing that solo and knowing that the band entrusted us with it and didn’t just give us whole notes was a vote of confidence that I took seriously.
Contrabassoon is way more agile than a lot of people think. It’s big, but it’s very smart. The keys are close together. Unlike a bass, where you have to jump across the instrument to make big leaps, I can do it with more or less the same finger position and a slight embouchure adjustment. So I love to make big leaps. It’s kind of like our specialty!
Good composers have known this since the 1600s. You go back and look at those parts. The drawback of the bassoon is that it’s so medieval. People have tried over the years to update it, but I guess bassoon players are just really old-fashioned, and we’ve resisted that.
What concert are you most looking forward to in 2025?
Earth, Wind & Fire at the Hollywood Bowl. It doesn’t get any better than that. Their cover of “Got to Get You Into My Life” has this great intro, but then when the groove finally breaks in, it’s like you’re cruising with the top down! Not that I’ve ever had a convertible…but it’s such an incredible feeling.
In the non-orchestral music I listen to, I’m always trying to find something with a good bass line because that’s what I want to play. I’m not in orchestra because I want to play the melody all the time. I can’t dance to that! I can dance to a bass line.
I pray that whoever arranged the Earth, Wind & Fire charts knows, [the bassoon] is where you put [the bass line]!