NATCHITOCHES – A concert, Les Goûts Réunis, the mixed styles of Italy, France, Prussia, and Bohemia, will be held on Monday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the Varnado Hall Ballroom. The concert is free and the public is invited.
Featured musicians will be Dennette McDermott on baroque flute, Douglas Bakenhus on baroque bassoon and Brian King on theorbo, a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck that houses the second pegbox.
The program will include works by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger, Alessandro Piccinini, Jean – Marie Leclair, Johann Sebatian Bach, Michel Blavet and Jiri Cart.
King is a New Orleans-based classical guitarist whose innovative performances, arrangements and compositions have stretched the boundaries of classical music while bringing the genre to a wider audience. He studied guitar at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts and went on to receive a bachelor’s in music from Oberlin Conservatory and a master’s in music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. King’s nuanced performance style has led him to perform throughout the United States and Europe in places such as the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and the island of Sorrento, Italy. He is a prizewinner in numerous competitions including the James Stroud Guitar Competition and the Elias Barreiro Young Artists Competition. He released his debut solo album Lost in Twilight in 2025.
Along with being a performer, King is an accomplished composer and arranger. His musical influences stem from a wide variety of sources, and his creative works reflect that variety: from the classical music of Tchaikovsky to the Samba-infused jazz of Chick Corea and the folk music of New Orleans. His compositional style incorporates the structure of classical composition with the musical language of jazz.
McDermott is professor emerita of flute at Northwestern State, where she taught from 1990 to 2022. An internationally recognized performer, she has shared her artistry across the United States, Czech Republic, Slovakia, England, Canada, Honduras, Russia, and Spain. Her deep passion for historical performance practice and the baroque flute led her to rigorous training at prestigious institutions, studying under master flutists like Claire Guimond, Jed Wentz, Wilbert Hazelzet, Sandra Miller and Stephen Schultz. These experiences culminated in selective invitations to the American Bach Soloists Academy (2019) and the Oregon Bach Festival (2024), alongside historical ensemble performances with the Austin Baroque Orchestra and the Louisiana Baroque Chamber Orchestra. Beyond her performance career, McDermott is a leading scholar on Cart, an 18th-century Czech composer. Her extensive archival research in European libraries resulted in the identification of his original manuscripts, the publication of first-edition musical scores and a comprehensive thematic catalog of his works. She has further cemented Cart’s legacy by updating his official entry in Grove Music Online and recording a dedicated CD of his flute sonatas.
Bakenhus is bassoon professor and director of Orchestral Activities at Northwestern State and holds music degrees from University of Texas at Austin (DMA, B.M.Ed) and East Texas A&M University (M.M. in Conducting) and has completed additional graduate coursework in conducting and bassoon performance at the University of Michigan. Throughout his teaching career, Bakenhus has remained active as a guest conductor and clinician with honor orchestras across Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. As a bassoonist, he performs with several regional ensembles including the Shreveport Symphony, Baroque Artists of Shreveport, Rapides Symphony, Marshall Symphony and South Arkansas Symphony. On baroque and classical bassoons, he regularly performs with period instrument ensembles in the region including the Austin Baroque Orchestra, the Louisiana Baroque Chamber Orchestra in New Orleans, Ars Lyrica Houston, the Houston Bach Society, the Mercury Baroque Chamber Orchestra and Sonido Barroco of San Antonio.