A family duet

Angelique Flores

Michelle Bumatay grew up watching her dad lead a high school marching

band when the family attended football games together. The father and

daughter are still doing things together, only now at the Pacific

Symphony Orchestra.

Bumatay’s father, Andrew Bumatay, has been playing the bass with the

Pacific Symphony Orchestra for 18 years. Three years ago, Michelle

Bumatay followed suit, playing the bassoon for the Pacific Youth Symphony

Orchestra.

“It makes me feel good that she’s playing music,” her father said.

Though he never gave her a music lesson himself, Michelle Bumatay learned

his love of music by his example. She started out playing the saxophone

in the first grade and switched to the oboe in the seventh grade. It

wasn’t until high school that she found her instrument, the bassoon.

The 18-year-old attends the Orange County High School of the Arts at Los

Alamitos High School, where she will graduate next month.

Andrew Bumatay plays the drums, saxophone, flute, clarinet and trumpet.

He has been teaching music for 31 years at Alamitos Intermediate.

Together, the father-daughter team said they have played at weddings and

at a musical at Cypress College. But the duets will end when Michelle

Bumatay leaves in the fall to attend the UC San Diego.

“Now we need to find her a bassoon, because she’s been using the

school’s,” Andrew Bumatay said. A good one costs about $10,000.

The bassist will continue playing with the orchestra, but Michelle

Bumatay will play her final performance with the youth orchestra on

Sunday before she heads off to school.

The Pacific Youth Symphony Orchestra will perform at 7 p.m. Sunday at

Grace Church, 5100 Cerritos Ave., Cypress. Admission is $5.

The Pacific Symphony Orchestra will presents Classical Connections at

3:30 p.m. Saturday. The concert will be at the Orange County Performing

Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Admission is $26.

556-2787