St. Andrew’s Bach Society Presents: Tucson Duo Project

($10-$15 tickets | 6pm doors / 7pm show) St. Andrew’s Bach Society Presents the Tucson Duo Project, featuring Meily Mendez, Mindi Acosta & Cassandra Bendickson!

**Tucson Duo Project** is an innovative and exciting flute, bassoon, and piano band in Southern Arizona. Mindi Acosta, Cassandra Bendickson, and Meily Mendez are passionate about bringing an eclectic program to accessible and inclusive venues as well as to traditional concert halls. They are excited to play repertoire that spans genres and time periods; you may hear American fiddle music juxtaposed with contemporary works as well as more traditional pieces. Life-long friends as well as musicians, they hope the joy and enthusiasm they have for their craft is contagious!

**Meily Mendez**, DMA, NCTM, is an instructor of piano at the University of Arizona’s School of Music where she received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance. During her tenure there, she studied with Dr. John Milbauer, Steinway artist and Professor of Piano, and Dr. Lisa Zdechlik, Professor of Piano Pedagogy and Group Piano. She is an active member of the Tucson Music Teacher’s Association, the Arizona State Music Teacher’s Association, and the Music Teachers’ National Association. She is incredibly delighted to be working with the Tucson Duo Project!

**Mindi Acosta** has performed with the Tucson Chamber Orchestra, Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Pops Orchestra, Sierra Vista Symphony, ChamberLab and Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. She currently performs with the Tucson Duo Project, the Crowded Quartet, LendAnEar chamber ensemble, the Tucson Repertory Orchestra, and the Sierra Vista Symphony Orchestra. She has performed and given master classes throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe, including a performance at the WASBE festival in Lucerne, Switzerland, the International Music Festival in Alamos, Mexico and the National Flute Convention in San Diego, California. She was a two-time finalist in the prestigious Fischoff Competition and the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition. She performed the world première of David Finko’s Concerto for Piccolo with the Tucson Chamber Orchestra and has been featured on the following CD’s: Chris Black’s “Lullabies and Nightmares,” and Allan Alexander’s “Music of Spain and South America” and “Christmas Music for Flute & Guitar.” Ms. Acosta attended the University of Arizona School of Music, under the instruction of Jean-Louis Kashy.

**Cassandra Bendickson** is a freelance bassoonist and contrabassoonist based in Tucson, Arizona. She currently performs with the LuftBassoons, Tucson Duo Project, Peregrine Rose Trio, and others as well as freelancing in orchestras across the southwestern United States. A huge fan of new music and composers, Ms. Bendickson won a sizable New Works grant from the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona in 2019 to fund six brand new pieces for bassoon quartet by Tucson composers and is continuing that work with other Tucson composers and ensembles, including a world premiere this fall of Becky Turro’s “A New Perspective of the Sun” for flute, contrabassoon and piano. Some of her favorite projects have included playing with Tucson’s own garage-classical series, ChamberLab, and the music and spoken word series she founded and curated in 2013 and 2014 called Church of Beethoven-Tucson. She is a member of the International Double Reed Society and the Local 33 branch of the American Federation of Musicians union.