Merina Chen is one of our bassoonists in the WA Charity Orchestra and WA Wind Symphony, and will be entering into her third year of bassoon studies at the University of Western Australia. She has been involved with WACO since 2014!  

Merina started her musical journey in primary school where she played clarinet and on occasions extended herself onto bass clarinet. This made her to realise her love for the mellow timbres of lower woodwind instruments, helping her to settle on the bassoon in high school. Merina was initially shocked with the bassoon’s large size which was much larger than anticipated – it is still practically bigger than herself today. As many musicians do, Merina is currently facing a performance injury, experiencing nerve compression syndromes in both her wrists, and is learning to balance treatment options while continuing her bassoon studies. 

Merina is still unstoppable when let loose at playgrounds…