All-State Musician Heading to Juilliard for Bassoon

Age: 18

School: Highland Park High School

Accomplishments: Sechan can play a variety of instruments, but his specialty is the bassoon, a double reed woodwind instrument. Mozart, John Williams, and many other famous composers wrote concertos for the instrument famous for its reedy tone.

Learning to play the bassoon was initially frustrating for Sechan. “Everybody else knew what he or she were doing, while I sat with a giant bazooka-looking thing and could barely read a note,” he said. A combination of practicing, lessons, and extensive listening helped Sechan overcome the bassoon’s steep learning curve; to improve, he sometimes spends more than six hours a day practicing. 

Sechan’s incredible accomplishments in various music programs are testaments to his one-of-a-kind talent. First and foremost, he was selected as principal bassoonist for the Honors All-State Orchestra both this year and last.

A spot in the All-State band is an extraordinarily coveted position for any high school musician, but Sechan has done much more than that. He won the Walgreens National Concerto Competition as well as the HPHS concerto competition. He’s a member of of Midwest Young Artists (MYA), a prestigious music program in Fort Sheridan. In addition to playing in a variety of ensembles, Sechan currently plays with a Chicago Festival Orchestra, CYMI. 

Next year, Sechan will attend the Juilliard School to study with Judy LeClair, principal bassoon of the New York Philharmonic. His acceptance into Juilliard, who this year accepted only 5.5% of applicants, is an amazing honor, but it only marks the beginning of what will surely be a successful professional music career.

Key To Awesomeness: One might expect an incredible musician like Sechan to have had a lifelong passion for his school’s music program. That’s not the case; he nearly gave up on band in eighth grade. Sechan’s older sister, however, knew better: She insisted that he come with her to Highland Park High School, where they met with the director’s son, Andrew Hile. “[He] showed me that you could inflate a rubber glove by playing a low note on bassoon,” Sechan said. “I was sold.”

As Sechan became more immersed in the music world, he’s come across several special people that have inspired him to work even harder. Dr. Hile and Ann Dufek, Sechan’s band director and bassoon teacher (respectively), worked with him to fully develop his bassoon technique. He credits them with instilling within him the importance of stretching to reach one’s full potential.

As far as famous musicians as influences, Sechan admires David McGill of the Chicago Symphony Orechestra. “[McGill’s] ideas on phrasing explore expression at its very core, making it understandable and accessible to all who listen,” Sechan said. “I also love listening to Yo Yo Ma. I mean, who doesn’t?”