RK Reed Maker
We’re honored to feature RK Red Bassoon Reeds, RK Teal Bassoon Reeds, and RK Red Bassoon Reeds On Our Website. Mr. Kandetzki, maker of all three styles of RK reeds that we stock, knew he wanted to play a musical instrument by the age of five! Recorder came first and by junior high school he was taking flute lessons.
In his first year of high school, as one of 20 flutists in the school orchestra, he made the excellent decision to switch to bassoon. Living near New York City at that time, Richard was privileged to have Joyce Kelly, NY City Opera principal bassoonist, as his primary teacher.
Prior to high school graduation, he began working for Jack Spratt Music Publishing in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. This venerable store was one of the few places in the US that specialized in cane, tools, supplies, and sheet music for double reeds. Besides filling stock and sending mail orders, he made all the bassoon and oboe reeds that were shipped out to customers. This amounted to perhaps thousands of reeds! He continued to work at Jack Spratt’s during summers between university semesters.
Gaining acceptance at The New England Conservatory of Music, he studied with Boston Symphony principal bassoonist Sherman Walt and Richard Plaster, Boston Symphony’s contra bassoonist.
Mr. Kandetzki’s performance credits include contra bassoonist with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil (under Eleazar de Carvalho) and ten years as principal bassoon of the Ridgefield, Conn. Symphony. He has performed with the American Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, and the Manchester Symphony Orchestra, along with numerous chamber ensembles in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
He was a founding member of the Blackledge Woodwind Quintet and a member of the “Musical Friends” chamber group, both based in the Hartford, Connecticut area.
For a span of 10-15 years, he set the bassoon aside to concentrate on a career in software development and to raise his family.
After that successful career in software development, he returned to playing the instrument, and returned to making reeds, first for himself and then for others.
Retired from the corporate world, Mr. Kandetzki now lives in Brazil and continues his love of reed making.
