- State: California
- Private School
- School Website
- Music School Central Top 10 Colleges for Double Bass Performance for 2014 (#10)
Bass Faculty
General Statistics
- Tuition & Fees 2016-17: $43, 410
- Room & Board 2016-17: $15,700
- Total Enrollment: 379
- Acceptance Rate (from 2015): 47%
- Student – Faculty Ratio: 7:1
- 4 year graduation rate: 61%
- % of undergrads receiving Financial aid: 85%
- Average Financial Aid: $25,500
Double Bass Statistics
- Average number of undergraduate bass students: Less than 15
- Average number of graduate bass students:
- Studio Class, Orchestral Repertoire Class, Bass Ensembles
What Alumni Are Doing
- Owen Levine (Colorado Symphony, 2017)
- London Philharmonia
- Covent Garden Opera (UK)
About The Bass Faculty
Shinji Eshima, a graduate of Stanford University and the Juilliard School has been a double-bassist in the San Francisco Opera since 1980 and also serves as Associate Principal Bass in the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Currently he is on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and San Francisco State University. His former students can be found in orchestras around the world.
Mr. Eshima is the composer of the ballets, RAkU and Swimmer, both full orchestra works choreographed by Yuri Possokhov and commissioned by San Francisco Ballet. RAkU was recently filmed with the original cast, including Yuan Yuan Tan. The soundtrack was recorded by the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra under the direction of Martin West at Skywalker Ranch Studio. RAkU returns the Joffrey Ballet as part of their 2016 season. In 2015, he is the invited lecturer for the Mancini series at the Crowden School. In 2011, the city of Berkeley, California named December 6 “Shinji Eshima Day” to honor his contribution to the Arts.
Scott Pingel became Principal Bass of the San Francisco Symphony in 2004, having previously served in that position with the Charleston Symphony. Prior to that, he was a member of the New World Symphony. He has also served as guest principal with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Mr. Pingel received degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the Manhattan School of Music. Also a jazz musician, he has worked with artists including Michael Brecker, Geoff Keezer, and James Williams.
Stephen Tramontozzi, assistant principal double bass of the San Francisco Symphony, studied with Robert Olson of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Oscar Zimmerman at the Eastman School of Music. He held the position of principal bass of the Symphony Orchestra of Sao Paolo, Brazil and has also performed with the Chamber Music West Festival, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival and the Cabrillo Music Festival. Formerly on the faculties of Stanford University and the Universities of California at Berkeley and Santa Cruz, Tramontozzi currently serves on the faculties of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Mills College. He has been called upon to present clinics and master classes for the Hammond Ashley Double Bass Symposium, Indiana University, University of Michigan, University of Texas, New England Conservatory, New World Symphony, Pacific Music Festival and the Asian Youth Orchestra. Engagements as a recitalist have taken him to Japan, Washington and throughout California. He received a B.M. from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Lawrence Wolfe, and an M.M. from the Conservatory.
Bass News Right To Your Inbox!
Subscribe to get our weekly newsletter covering the double bass world.