Preston Atkins, 16, a senior bassoonist at Idyllwild Arts Academy (IAA) who hails from Cedar Falls, Iowa, is preparing for a number of concerto competitions. His bassoon teacher, Martin Kuuskmann, is professor of bassoon at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music, making the trek to Idyllwild once a month to work with IAA’s…

Hopes were high this past weekend at the Lowman Concert Hall on the Idyllwild Arts Academy campus; with the continued warm weather and clear sunshine on the Hill, a larger than usual turnout was also expected, and as it happened, the situation materialized according to the anticipatory heights. The Saturday evening orchestral concert, ably supervised…