Contrabass Conversations

This week, we bring you an interview with Indiana University double bass professor Kurt Muroki. Kurt is an outstanding performer, teacher, and artist, and we had a great conversation about teaching, learning, and performing. Enjoy!

About Kurt Muroki:

Former Artist Member with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Professor Kurt Muroki began his musical studies on the violin at the age of six and subsequently performed concerti with the Honolulu Symphony and the Maui Symphony. Mr. Muroki went on to study the Double bass at the age of 13 and entered the Juilliard School of Music at 17 studying with his teacher / mentor Homer R. Mensch.

At the age of 21 Kurt began performing with the internationally renowned Sejong Soloists under ICM Management. Kurt has performed with the The Jupiter Chamber Players, Speculum Musicae, "Great Performers" series at Lincoln Center, Ensemble Sospeso, Sequitur, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Tokyo Opera Nomori, New York City Ballet, 92nd St. Y, and Bargemusic. Festivals include Marlboro Music Festival, Festival L'Autonne at IRCAM, and Aspen Music Festival to name a few. Kurt is also active playing movies, commercials, popular, and classical recordings with titles including the Oscar winning film "The Departed", "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", "Hitch", "Julie and Julia", "The Manchurian Candidate", "Roger Daltrey Sings Pete Townshend" – The Who, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Itzhak Perlman.

Mr. Muroki has won numerous competitions including 1st prize in the Aspen Music Festival double bass competition, the first bassist to win the New World Symphony concerto competition, and the Honolulu Symphony Young Artists competition. He has collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Tokyo, Orion quartets, Ensemble Wein-Berlin, Jaime Laredo, Lynn Harrell, Maurice Bourgue, Toru Takemitsu, Peter Schickele, John Zorn, and Brian Ferneyhough among others, and has performed concerto tours throughout Asia and the United States. Professor Muroki is currently tenured faculty at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Artist/Lecturer at Stony Brook University, Distinguished Artist at the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University, faculty/Director of the Kaplan Fellowship program at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, teaches at New York String Orchestra Seminar, and has been a judge at the Yale Gordon Competition at Peabody Conservatory, ASTA, and others. Mr Muroki is a past Board Member of the International Society of Bassists and is a D'Addario Strings Artist.

We're featuring an interview from the podcast archives with Los Angeles Philharmonic bassist and University of Southern California bass instructor David Allen Moore on the podcast this week. David also teaches bass during the summer at the Domaine Forget program in Quebec.

In this interview, we chat about his early years on the instrument, teachers that have influenced him, his time in the Houston Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic, challenges of learning repertoire for a professional orchestra, his studies with François Rabbath, German and French bow differences, and many other topics. After the interview, we feature a track of David playing the Bohemian Dance from Frank Proto's Carmen Fantasy. Enjoy!

David's Faculty Page of USC Website

Domaine Forget Festival

About David:

DAVID ALLEN MOORE graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Southern California in 1993 where he studied with Dennis Trembly, Paul Ellison, and John Clayton. Moore continued his studies in Boston, working privately with BSO principal bass Edwin Barker while performing with Boston Baroque, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Emmanuel Music, and the Boston Pops Esplanade orchestra.

Moore performed as a substitute with the Los Angeles Philharmonic during the 1995/96 season, after which he was a member of the Houston Symphony bass section under maestro Christoph Eschenbach, from 1996 to 1999. In January of 2000 Moore became a full-time member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's bass section and was promoted to the 4th chair by audition in October of the same year. Moore has participated in numerous festivals including Tanglewood, the Grand Teton Music Festival, Mainly Mozart, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, and Kent/Blossom Summer Music Festival.

He is an active recitalist and chamber musician, having performed in the Houston area with the Greenbriar Consortium, in Los Angeles with the Philharmonic's New Music Group, and in San Diego with the Mainly Mozart Festival. He has been a featured clinician at the 2012 TCU International Double Bass Festival, the 2011 International Society of Bassists convention, the 1999 Texas Double Bass Symposium.

From 2003-2009 Moore was a faculty member at the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles. Moore has been a faculty member of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music since 2000, and since the Fall of 2010 he has been part of the full-time faculty as an Assistant Professor while maintaining his position in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Since 2007 Moore has been a faculty member at Domaine Forget in Quebec, Canada. In November of 2007 he began studies with internationally renowned double bass pedagogue and soloist François Rabbath in Paris.

Moore received both the Diploma and Teaching Certificate from the Institut International Rabbath in February of 2009. Moore has presented clinics and master classes at Juilliard, The Curtis Institute of Music, Northwestern University, and Rice University, among others. He has former students performing in major orchestras in The U.S., Canada, Australia, Europe, and Asia. The double bass that Moore performs on with the Philharmonic is an instrument by Nicolo Gagliano made in 1735.His solo bass is a modern instrument by French luthier Christian Laborie. Moore uses bows designed especially for him by Paris bowmaker Boris Fritsch that are a unique French/German hybrid and are designed to be played either overhand or underhand. T

his interview originally aired on July 18, 2009 on CBC Episode 128.

We are thrilled to bring you this interview with Chicago Symphony Orchestra Principal Bass Alex Hanna. In addition to his responsibilities leading the bass section of the CSO, Alex teaches double bass at DePaul University and is active as a clinician, soloist, and chamber musician.

About Alex:

Inspired by the sound of the symphony orchestra, Alexander Hanna at age 13 decided to pursue a career as a bassist. Throughout his youth, after beginning music studies on the piano at age 4, he performed as a recitalist on both piano and bass and also as a soloist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra on both instruments. In 2004, he was invited to study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Hal Robinson and Edgar Meyer.

In 2012, Riccardo Muti appointed Hanna as principal bass of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He had served four years as principal bass of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Alex will be performing the Vanhal Concerto with the Chicago Symphony December 17-19, 2015. We feature excerpts from Alex performing this concerto with the Bellingham Festival Orchestra, Michael Palmer conducting. Enjoy!

This week, we're featuring an interview with double bassist Barry Lieberman. The former Assistant Principal Bass of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Principal Bass of the Winnipeg Symphony, Barry now serves as co-director of The American String Project, an innovative string ensemble which features arrangements of string quartets for small string ensemble with double bass.

In this interview, we discuss Barry's recent TASP CD release on MSR Classics, his orchestral solo tutorials on his YouTube channel, upcoming possible future video projects, and designing a bass rosin that really works.

This special Contrabass Conversations episode features an interview with composer Paul Ramsier. Though Paul is particularly well-known for his collaborations with Gary Karr, he continues to remain quite active as a composer and has a number of interesting projects in the works. Throughout this interview, you will hear excerpts from Divertimento and Silent Movie, two of Paul's most popular compositions. These excerpts come from Paul's recently released DVD titled Four Ramsier Favorites and featuring double bassist Jerome Butler on bass. We also discuss Bass Tunes, Paul's excellent volume of duets for young bassists and a book that I frequently use with my own students.

Links to some of Paul's online offerings:

• Paul's website
• Four Ramsier Favorites DVD
• Bass Tunes
• Compositions for Virtuoso Double Bass CD (site features audio excerpts of these tracks)
• Lemur Music (search for Paul Ramsier - many titles available including music for Divertimento, Silent Movie, Three Lyric Pieces, Eusebius Revisited, Road to Hamelin, and Lullaby for Bass Quartet)

We're bringing you an interview with double bassist Charles DeRamus on Contrabass Conversations this week. Charles is a member of the Gothenburg Symphony and has worked extensively in both Europe and the United States during his professional career. Charles has recently written a children's concert for double bass quartet and narrator called "Greta's Dream" which has been performed at many venues in the United States and Sweden.

This piece will be performed at the 2011 International Society of Bassists Convention in San Francisco, so be sure to check out their session if you can attend the convention. Following the interview, we feature two excerpts from a live performance of Greta's Dream (right around the 57 minute point in the podcast if you want to jump right to them), and more information about this piece will be provided in the coming months. Be sure to check out the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra Bass Quartet on Facebook--they've got a great page!

About Charles: Charles DeRamus has a career that spans from North America to Scandinavia, where he is currently a member of the Gothenburg Symphony and has worked extensively with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Malmo? Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. In the United States he has performed, recorded and toured with the Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and the Colorado Music Festival. His studies include degrees from Indiana University and Rice University, after which he was a member of the New World Symphony and participated in numerous summer festivals including Tanglewood, Schleswig-Holstein, National Repertory Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival, and the National Orchestral Institute. Equally at home in various musical venues, Charles has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, Atlanta Opera, Ohio Light Opera, NorrlandsOperan, Malmo? Opera, as well as the Dayton Bach Society, the contemporary ensemble "Black Box Band", Sweden's acclaimed new music ensemble Gageego, and the Persian/European influenced Rumi Ensemble. Recent solo engagements include a unique performance with the National Orchestra of Sweden for a concert celebrating newly naturalized Swedish citizens, as well as performances of Piazzolla's Le Grand Tango and Beethoven's F Major Romance with the Eureka Symphony in the United States. Charles is a dedicated teacher and currently serves on the faculties of the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop and the Idyllwild Arts Summer Festival Programs. Previously he has served on the All-State at Interlochen and University of Michigan Summer Arts Institute faculties, as well as given masterclasses in Norway, Sweden, the United States, and at the Royal College of Music and Yehudi Menuhin School in England. As a composer/arranger, in the 2010/11 season Charles will celebrate the premier performances of "Greta's Dream", his newly written children's concert for Double Bass Quartet and narrator. Following in his father and grandfather's footsteps, Charles is the third generation bassist in his family.

This week on Contrabass Conversations, we're bringing you rare footage of Serge Koussevitzky performing a few selections. Enjoy this trip back in double bass history, brought to you by double bassist John Grillo!

We're featuring the debut album from Gunnelpumpers in its entirety on this episode of Contrabass Conversations. Enjoy!

About Gunnelpumpers

Gunnelpumpers is a group of musicians dedicated to the art of progressive, free improvisation. Founded in Chicago in 2002 by bassist/composer Douglas Johnson and percussionist Randy Farr, Gunnelpumpers has had over 50 musicians perform with the group. The core of the group currently includes founders Johnson and Farr, as well as rock guitarist John Meyer, Chicago Symphony bassist Michael Hovnanian, and session musicians Tom Mendel on bass guitar and Bob Garrett on drums.

At the heart of Gunnelpumpers lies the spirit of improvisation, and each musician brings a wide range of influences to create a unique and compelling sound. By nature Gunnelpumpers defies labels, but perhaps "tribadelic" best describes the myriad of styles drawn from, which ranges from rock to classical, jazz to psychedelia, and beyond.

We're featuring practice tapes from the hugely influential double bass performer and pedagogue Frederick Zimmermann on this week's Contrabass Conversations episode. Co-host John Grillo unearthed and transferred these tapes of Zimmermann practicing, and he and I briefly chat about how these tapes helped to shape John's concept of sound on the double bass. Enjoy!

About Frederick Zimmermann:

Frederick Zimmermann was an American double bassist and teacher. He played in the New York Philharmonic from 1930-1966 serving as assistant-principal and principal and taught at the Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, Columbia University, Manhattan School of Music, and New York University. He is considered by many to be the most influential American double bass teacher of the 20th century.

We're featuring double bassist Leon Bosch performing selections from his latest album on this week's Contrabass Conversations episode. Titled Virtuoso Double Bass Vol. 2, this album contains a dozen works, both familiar and less familiar, from Giovanni Bottesini. You can purchase this album (as well as Leon's other albums) from Meridian Records here, and learn more about Leon at leonbosch.co.uk.