Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

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The IRIS Chamber Orchestra will be performing a program of Brahms and Rachmoninov this Saturday (4/21/07) evening at the Germantown Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m. Click here for ticket and location information. The concert will feature the Fourth Symphony and Variations on a Theme of Haydn by Brahms and the Rhapsody [...]

Finding Rothko, The IRIS Chamber Orchestra’s latest commissioned work by composer Adam Schoenberg, just won one of the 2007 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. This is exciting news for Adam, and it is more evidence of the high level of musical activity associated with the IRIS Chamber Orchestra.
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This week’s episode of Contrabass Conversations features an interview with National Symphony bassist Ira Gold. Ira is an outstanding performer on the instrument, and he brings valuable insight into the process of learning and developing on the double bass in this interview. You will also get to hear Ira play the last movement [...]

I’d like to give readers a heads up regarding guests for the next few weeks of Contrabass Conversations. I think that people will be very interested both of the guests we have scheduled for the next couple of episodes.
This weekend, you will be hearing an interview I did recently with double bassist Ira Gold. [...]

In early 2004 my new Saturn abruptly caught fire as I was driving home from an orchestra rehearsal. I pulled the flaming carriage over, got my instrument out, and ran away just before it exploded. You can check out that part of the story here.
This was, to put it mildly, an unexpected [...]

Musicians need the input of others in order to develop and hone their craft. Successful performing artists do not live in a vacuum. They constantly seek out the advice of others and incorporate these suggestions into their practicing.
The most important source of input for the younger musician is their private teacher. [...]

My friend and IRIS Chamber Orchestra pianist Josh Nemith just started a blog for pianists. So far he has a lot of information about local Cincinnati piano resources as well as a post about the New World Symphony. Josh was the New World Symphony pianist for two seasons, and he currently does a [...]

On An Overgrown Path recently highlighted a Milwaukee Journal article by music writer Tom Strini. Tom makes some interesting points in this article on the target demographic of classical music and the lack of cultural centrality of this music. Here is an excerpt from his column:
The survival of larger classical musical institutions, particularly [...]

What, exactly, is a “regional” orchestra? For the purposes of this article, regional orchestras will be defined as organizations that employ professional musicians but do not offer a salary and other benefits of full-time employment. The organizational structure is virtually identical to the full-time symphony orchestra and is quite different from the community [...]

My busy schedule prevented me from seeing two fantastic double bassists play concerts last week. Edgar Meyer played at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Evanston, Illinois with the fabulous mandolinist Chris Thile. Seeing Edgar perform is always a treat. I remember rehearsing and premiering Edgar’s second double bass concerto with the IRIS Chamber [...]