Matthew Rasmussen is a performor, educator, composer, and administrator based in the West Los Angeles area. 

He currently serves as the second bassoonist with the Santa Monica Symphony, the inaugural principal bassoonist with the California Young Artists Symphony, and the bassoonist with the LA-based reed quintet Fivemind Reeds. Matthew has performed with ensembles throughout California: in the orchestras of the Bakersfield Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, American Youth Symphony, and Bakersfield City Ballet, and as a soloist with the Solano Symphony Orchestra, the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, and the UCLA Philharmonia. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by middle and high school percussion ensembles and drumlines, collegiate orchestras, and his own reed quintet, Fivemind. Upcoming engagements include a Rite of Spring performance in February 2024 with the California Young Artists Symphony and returning to Northern Michigan with Fivemind as a part of the Manitou Music Festival's collaboriation with Interlochen Public Radio's Sound Garden Project.

Apart from performing, Matthew works as an administrative assistant with the Santa Monica Symphony and in the operational, administrative, and financial sides of Fivemind, bringing accessible classical music to the greater Los Angeles area. In his day-to-day, Matthew is a tutor and education specialist, stenghtening the academic and executive functioning skills of students of all grade levels and with all types of learning differences. Matthew holds a Master of Music degree in Bassoon from UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music, studying with John Steinmetz, and undergraduate degrees in music and linguistics from UC Davis, studying bassoon with David Granger and composition with Laurie San Martin, Christian Baldini, and Kurt Rohde.