Happy August!
There’s lots of activity in the bass world as always as we head into the tail end of summer.
Check out all 21 Bradetich Competition Candidates
We’re less than a month away from the 2nd International Bradetich Solo Competition!
The list of candidates is stellar and includes former podcast guests like Nina DeCesare, Szymon Marciniak, and Sam Suggs.
Here’s a playlist featuring all 21 candidates for the competition.
Interested in who’s judging these 21 outstanding young bassists?
Here’s the line-up of judges:
- Artem Chirkov – principal bassist of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic 2010 Bradetich Competition winner (interview link)
- Thierry Barbé – Paris Conservatory faculty and Opéra National de Paris principal bassist (interview link)
- DaXun Zhang – University of Texas Austin faculty and soloist (interview link)
- Fouad Fakhouri – Music Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor for Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, Cairo Symphony Orchestra and Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra
- Hans Jørgen Jensen – Northwestern University cello professor
…and here are all of these judges in action:
I can’t wait for this event!
By the way, the Bradetich Foundation is accepting advertisements and sponsorship for the competition—more details here.
Dennis Whittaker joins Ira Gold for Orchestral Master Class
Ira Gold will be joined University of Houston faculty member (and former teacher of Ira!) Dennis Whittaker for Ira’s second Orchestral Bass Workshop.
From Ira:
With less than a month to go until our 2nd Workshop, I am thrilled to announce that Dennis Whittaker, Principal Bassist of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Faculty at University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, and my former teacher!!!!, will be joining Orchestral Bass Workshop 2017 as a Featured Guest. Brent Edmondson and I are so excited to share this news with you that we are opening up our enrollment to include a couple more spots. Contact me or Brent for details.
More details are available here.
Ira Gold and Dennis Whittaker are both former podcast guests. They’re doing great things for the bass community, and I highly encourage you to check out this workshop if you can.
Teach Bass Full-Time in Minnesota
Adam Booker‘s old position at the University of Minnesota Duluth is open, and they’re looking to fill it quickly. Details through this link. Jobs like this don’t come open very frequently, so move fast if you’re interested!
Here’s a bit about the school and Duluth. If you can stand the cold, it’s a great place to live!
Have You Ever Been in a Rehearsal Like This?
As I was putting together the Bradetich Competition playlists, this video from Paul Cannon kept coming up as a recommendation. It still makes me laugh even after multiple viewings.
I interviewed Paul earlier this year about his unique career in the contemporary music world. It’s an interesting conversation for sure.
Old vs New Double Bass Strings – can you hear the difference?
Geoff Chalmers of Discover Double Bass has a new video out about differences in sound and feel with old and new strings.
This reminds me of my conversation with Lyris Hung about bass string construction and what happens when bass strings go bad.
Geoff has a ton of great content on his site. We even did an interview along with Lauren Pierce a couple of years ago. Expect a new one with Geoff soon!
More Cool Stuff
- The Neuroscience of Bass: New Study Explains Why Bass Instruments Are Fundamental to Music (hat tip: Norma Brooks)
- The London Symphony Orchestra is now playing on Resonanzio sound podiums
- D’Addario Orchestral is running a Best Advice for Beginners Contest
- I’m looking forward to spending some time with the Bassinova Quartet when I’m in Texas!
- I’ve been on a couple podcasts this past week–check out Advance Your Art and Off the Podium to hear me jam out on music, business etc.
- Bill Crow is 89 years old and still rocking it on the bass
- Credo Music Welcomes bassist Henry Peyrebrune as Executive Director
- Elsen Price jamming out on the bass
- Great group shot from Bass Works 2017
- Monika Kwiatkowska’s warm-up routine
Upcoming Interviews
Like I’ve said before, I think that interviews have become an addiction for me.
Here’s a partial line-up of what’s coming up:
- Dennis Tobenski – Music Publishing Podcast host and composer
- Matthew Waters – author of The Orchestral Dream is Dead
- Miles Brown – Alarm Will Sound bassist
- Nick Mainella – 10 Minute Jazz Lesson podcast host
- Patrick Charton – innovative French luthier
- Todd Parks – Nashville-based bassist for Sam Bush
- Benedict Puglisi – Australian luthier (Christian McBride, Esperanza Spaulding, and Larry Grenadier all play his basses)
- Marlene Rosenberg – Chicago-based jazz bassist
- Elsen Price – Australian experimental solo bassist
- Caroline Emery – professor at the Royal College of Music and Yehudi Menuhin School, author of Bass is Best
- Susan Cahill – Colorado Symphony bassist
- Larry Grenadier – jazz bass legend
- Gary Peacock – jazz bass legend
- Caitlyn Kamminga – professor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago
As always, feel free to reach out if you’ve got news to share!
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