- State: Texas
- Private School
- School Website
- Music School Central Top 10 Colleges for Double Bass Performance for 2014 (#2)
- Music School Central Top 10 Colleges for Music for 2014 (#8)
- 1997 ISB Convention Host
Bass Faculty
General Statistics
-
- US News Ranking: #15 (tie) in National Universities
- US News Overall Score (out of 100): 85
- Tuition & Fees 2016-17: $43,918
- Room & Board 2016-17: $13,750
- Total Enrollment: 6,719
- Acceptance Rate (from 2015): 16%
- Student – Faculty Ratio: 6:1
- 4 year graduation rate: 80%
- % of undergrads receiving Financial aid: 37%
- Average Financial Aid: $36,025
What Alumni Are Doing
- Jory Herman (Los Angeles Philharmonic, 2017)
- Ted Botsford (Los Angeles Philharmonic, 2017)
- Paul Cannon (Ensemble Modern)
- Daniel Smith (San Francisco Symphony, 2017)
- Andrew Pedersen (Houston Symphony, 2017)
- Ian Hallas (Lyric Opera of Chicago, 2016)
- Evan Halloin (Kansas City Symphony, 2016)
- Caleb Quillen (Kansas City Symphony, 2016)
- Rudy Albach (Columbus Symphony, 2016)
- Brandon Mason (Kansas City Symphony, 2015)
- Evan Hulbert (Vancouver Symphony, 2015)
- Karl Fenner (Atlanta Symphony, 2015)
- Nicholas Browne (San Antonio Symphony, 2014)
- Katherine Munagian (Nashville Symphony, 2014)
- Kevin Brown (Detroit Symphony, 2014)
- Kristen Bruya (Minnesota Orchestra, 2014)
- Nina DeCesare (Oregon Symphony, 2014)
- Evan Halloin (Kansas City Symphony, 2014)
- Patrick Staples (Calgary Philharmonic, 2013)
- Charlie Nilles (National Symphony, 2013)
- Ted Merritt (Utah Symphony, 2013)
- Brian Johnson (Los Angeles Philharmonic, 2013)
- Karl Fenner (Colorado Symphony, 2012)
- Thomas Van Dyck (Boston Symphony, 2012)
- Ted Merritt (Alabama Symphony, 2011)
- Bella Leslie (Auckland Philharmonic, 2011)
- Paul Macres (Louisiana Philharmonic, 2011)
- Kevin Jablonski (Nashville Symphony, 2010)
- Andrew Stalker (Coenhagen Philharmonic, 2009)
- Travis Gore (Seattle Symphony, 2008)
- Scott Dixon (Cleveland Orchestra, 2007)
- Andrew Raciti (Milwaukee Symphony, 2006)
- Sarah Hogan (Saint Louis Symphony, 2005)
- David DeRiso (Saint Louis Symphony, 2005)
- Ira Gold (National Symphony, 2005)
- Ben Levy (Boston Symphony, 2003)
- Matt Medlock (Naples Philharmonic, 2003)
- Jeremy Kurtz-Harris (San Diego Symphony, 2003)
- Jonathan Burnstein (Seattle Symphony, 2000)
- Jennifer Godfrey (Seattle Symphony, 1999)
- Donald Howie (Houston Symphony, 1998)
About The Bass Faculty
Performing solo and ensemble concerts as well as giving master classes on the double bass and period instruments on four continents, Paul Ellison is the Lynette S. Autrey Professor of Double Bass and chair of strings at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Visiting Artist-Faculty University of Southern California and guest tutor at the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Royal College of Music, and Bass Club, England. Current summer positions include principal bass at the Grand Teton Music Festival, faculty/performer at the Sarasota Music Festival and faculty/performer at Festival Domaine Forget, Quebec. Former students hold titled positions in major ensembles and institutions of higher learning on five continents. Previous positions include principal bass of Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Aspen Festival Orchestras (also faculty), professor of double bass and chair of strings at the University of Southern California, and president of the International Society of Bassists. Ellison was the first to receive both the diploma and teaching certificate from Institut International Rabbath, Paris. “…The treat of the afternoon turned out to be hearing the double bass as a solo instrument…Paul Ellison…demonstrated virtuosity. [The] bass shines as [the] music festival gets underway.”
Timothy Pitts has distinguished himself as one of the most versatile double bassists of his generation. As a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, he has been heard in many of the world’s greatest concert halls.
Mr. Pitts’ orchestral career began as a member of the Cleveland Orchestra after which he was appointed principal bass of the Houston Symphony, a position he held for seventeen years. Mr. Pitts also served as principal double bass of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra under the direction of John Williams.
An active chamber musician, Mr. Pitts has appeared as a guest artist with Bay Chamber Concerts, the Mainly Mozart Festival, Boston Musica Viva, the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Skaneateles Festival in New York as well as with the Los Angles Piano Quartet and the St. Lawrence, Jupiter, and Vermeer Quartets. He has collaborated with such artists as Menahem Pressler, Arnold Steinhardt, Christoph Eschenbach, Heinz Holliger, Robert McDuffie, and Roberto Diaz. As a member of the Houston Symphony Chamber Players, Mr. Pitts toured Germany and Japan, and appeared at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival.
Mr. Pitts has appeared as soloist with the Houston, Greenville, Savannah, Albany, and Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestras. In April of 2006, Mr. Pitts gave the United States premiere of John Harbison’s Concerto for Bass Viol with Hans Graf conducting the Houston Symphony.
A dedicated educator, Mr. Pitts has presented master classes at the National Orchestral Institute, the New World Symphony, Boston University, Indiana University, the Glen Gould School, and the Pacific Music Festival. His students can be found among the ranks of the world’s finest ensembles.
Formerly on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory, Mr. Pitts is currently a Professor of Double Bass at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. For three weeks each summer he teaches and performs at the Montecito Music Festival in Montecito, California. During the summer, he is on the artist faculty of the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, in residence at China’s Central Conservatory of Music. Mr. Pitts lives in Houston, Texas with his wife, violinist Kathleen Winkler, and two daughters, Nina and Kiri, both aspiring cellists.
Bass News Right To Your Inbox!
Subscribe to get our weekly newsletter covering the double bass world.