Suite

Geoffrey Hartley was born in 1906 near Oxford. He began playing the bassoon at school when he was 16, using an old Savary instrument from his father's collection. He studied engineering at Oxford and, having acquired a new Buffet-Crampon instrument, played in the Oxford Orchestral Society. He later acquired a Heckel and, alongside his career teaching mathematics, became an ARCM (bassoon) in 1931.
From 1939-1979 he was at the Meteorological Office and played in various local orchestras. In 1948 he founded The Occasional Wind Players and organised hundreds of concerts in and around the London area. He was first bassoon in the Chelsea Opera Group under Sir Colin Davis, and also conducted the Woking Orchestral Society.
In addition to playing, he composed a quantity of chamber music, including several works for bassoons. These include Suite for Three Bassoons and Fantasia on a British. Tea Song, both of which are published by Emerson Edition.