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PASSAGES
Eldon Obrecht, emeritus professor of music of the University of Iowa, died March 7, 2011 at the age of 90. He received a scholarship to the University of Iowa (then the State University of Iowa), where he studied composition for both undergraduate and master's degrees and met his wife Maxine. They had four musical daughters, ten grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. After a brief stint with the National Symphony Orchestra, he returned to the University of Iowa to join the faculty and pursue his doctoral degree in 1947. During his tenure, he taught double bass, music appreciation, music theory and composition. He also collaborated with Tom Turner to write a book on musical form and analysis. In 1953 he took over the music appreciation classes at the university, which were broadcast on WSUI radio until 1973. He also served as principal bass with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. He retired from the university in 1990. As Mario Chiarello noted in his own doctoral thesis: "As a composer he wrote three symphonies, a concerto, and many other works. As a teacher he launched many students into careers, not all of which ended in music, and taught many non-musicians through his music appreciation classes and their broadcasts. Whatever hat he was wearing, he was always known for his positive attitude." Memorial contributions may be made to the Eldon Obrecht Fund at the University of Iowa School of Music, which will be used to fund a scholarship in his name. Contributions may be sent to the University of Iowa Foundation, c/o Eldon Obrecht Fund, P.O. Box 4550, Iowa City, IA 52244. |
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ON SALE NOW!
Order print music, CDs, DVDs and videos, convention t-shirts, posters, back issues of magazines and more at the www.ISBstore.com.
Check out recent additions to the ISB Online Store! CDs, print music, books and more for sale by Jay Leonhart, Bass Instinct, Scott LaFaro, Bad Boyz of Double Bass, Paul Unger, Terry Plumeri, Whitney Moulton, The American String Project, Chester Biscardi, Jeremy Kurtz, Lynn Seaton, Arni Egilsson, Robert Meyer, Diana Gannett, Jon Hamar, Peter Kowald, Richard Wilson, Murray Grodner, L'Orchestre de Contrabasses, Jean-Philippe Viret, Arni Egilsson, Jim Ferguson, Donovan Stokes, Mark Morton, Paul Erhard and Atmic Vision, Kristin Korb, David Murray, Peter Kowald, Volkan Orhon, Leon Bosch, Peter Dominguez, Robert Oppelt, Francesco Fraioli, Jon Hamar, Zbigniew Borowicz, Peter Askim, Tom Knific, John Harbison, Ben Taylor, Yoan Goilav, Randall Kertz, Sher Music, Stefano Sciascia, Buell Neidlinger, Bruce Gertz, Tuomo Haapala, Adrian Mann, Rufus Reid, Thomas Martin, Hans Sturm, Mark Urness, J.C. Jones, Joelle Leandre, Mark Dresser, Bert Turetzky, Barre Phillips, Paul Ramsier, John Dahlstrand, Ben Taylor, Thomas Gale, Terry Plumeri and The Gary Karr Store! New additions arriving every month!
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News of Note
Calling out to the double bass nation! ISB member Casey Abrams is still in the running on the 2011 season of American Idol. Stay tuned, vote bass, vote Casey, vote often!
Attention, bass makers, click here to download rules and entry form for the 2011 ISB Maker's Competition.
Thanks to everyone who took part in our 2011 ISB membership campaign in February, our honorary co-chairs John Clayton and Paul Ellison, and to Paul Beaudry, Arni Egilsson, Kristin Korb, Jeremy Kurtz, Lynn Seaton, Bill Koehler and Barry Lieberman for donating CDs to the drive. We had an amazing 281 new and renewing members in the month of February!
Tarisio Auctions is offering the "Delmas" Maggini Bass at auction on May 5, 2011. Click here for more information.
The double bass students of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music will give a recital on Tuesday, April 12th at 8 PM in the Osher Salon. Free and open to the public, for more information contact Sam Smith, 415-503-6265 or ssmith@sfcm.edu.
Scholarship auditions for the Performing Arts Institute, an international summer program for serious high school students of music, theater and dance, are coming up. Located in Kingston Pennsylvania, PAI's musical theater program offers intense training in voice, dance and theater arts. For classical music majors, private lessons, chamber group coaching, chamber and symphony orchestra, choir participation is offered daily. For more information go to http://www.wyomingseminary.org/page.cfm?p=518.
Click here to listen to bassist/vocalist Nicki Parrott's interview on NPR's "Piano Jazz."
Zbigniew Borowicz gave a faculty recital on March 24th, at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. He presented a program of short works, "The Repertoire of My Students, Part 2," by J.S.Bach, Marcello, Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, Brahms and others.
Musically adventurous trio The Bad Plus, ISB member Reid Anderson, bassist, has embarked on a recreation of the entire score of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring," a commission from Duke University and the Lincoln Center. Click here to listen to the NPR interview and a rehearsal recording.
Not only is he a jazz bassist extraordinaire, but he's also a world class storyteller! Click here to listen to Christian McBride tell how he first played with his hero, Freddie Hubbard, on the Moth Radio Show.
George Amorim, double bass professor at the University of Texas Pan American, will perform the Dragonetti Concerto with the University Orchestra on April 15th, at the Library Media Theater on the UTPA Campus in Edinburg, TX.
2007 ISB solo competition winner Gunars Upatnieks has won the audition and will be joining the Berlin Philharmonic. Congratulations, Gunars!
On March 20, 2011, Per Knudsen of the Sřnderjyllands Symfoniorkester, Sřnderborg, Denmark, performed Concerto No. 1 by Franz Leopold Anton Joseph Keyper. Keyper was a bassist in the Royal Opera Orchestra in Copenhagen from 1788 to 1815, and this was possibly the world premiere performance of this concerto. Per also performed the fifth concerto by Keyper in 2007. Keyper composed seven concertos for double bass, available on the Royal Library website. Knudsen hopes to publish this concerto and perhaps the rest with piano accompaniments. The second movement of the first concerto is known to bassists as Romance, published by Yorke Edition with a Rondo from the second concerto. Keyper himself combined these two movements into a separate piece.
The University of Texas Pan American and ˇViva el Bajo! Bass Club hosted James VanDemark of the Eastman School of Music on March 31st for a masterclass, where he worked with a dozen bassists. Check out photos of the event.
Double bass stolen in Mendoza (Argentina): Laureano Melchiori reports that robbers entered her house and took her Agustin Rosso bass, 2005, 4/4 size, light brown almost yellow color, dark brown walnut ridge, ebony fingerboard. On the upper back part of the bass it has an unusual rhomboid carving, and it also had a brown and black bass bib. It is missing the tuning peg of the D string. Email edhison@gmail.com with information.
The American Federation of Musicians will again be supporting a provision for musical instruments as carry-on/checked luggage on airplanes in the FAA reauthorization bill in 2011. Due to other issues within the bill, it did not pass this year and must be reintroduced. The AFM will again seek a uniform national policy regarding musical instruments that will apply to all major airlines. In order to gain support in Congress for this legislation, the AFM must demonstrate that musicians have problems every day with airline travel. Send your personal stories of airline travel issues to Hal Ponder at hponder@afm.org, or Laura Brigandi, lbrigandi@afm.org. In order to be relevant, the complaint should be about an occurrence within the last year. Tarisio Auctions has launched a $10,000 string instrument grant designed to help young musicians at the start of their careers. The Tarisio Matching Grant Program awards up to $10,000 of matching funds towards the purchase of a string instrument or bow in one of Tarisio's fine auctions. It is open to players aged under 30 who are currently enrolled in or have graduated from a music performance degree program. The winner is drawn at random two weeks before the auction. There are four auctions per year, two in London and two in New York. Application deadline for the upcoming March 2011 auction in London is February 24th. Application deadline for the May 2011 auction in New York is April 22nd. For more information and to apply, go to http://tarisio.com/pages/about/grantinfo.php.
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Upcoming Events & Reminders
Click here for guidelines and entry forms for the 2011 ISB Double Bass Competition, orchestra and age 14 and under divisions. Attention, bass makers, click here to download rules and entry form for the 2011 ISB Maker's Competition.
Click here for news and to learn about the ISB's participation in MTNA's "Year of Collaborative Music." Make plans to celebrate the Summer of Bass Love at the 2011 ISB Convention, June 6-11, at San Francisco State University. Click here for more information! APRIL
This month, San Francisco Symphony principal bass Scott Pingel is playing the Karr-Koussevitzky Bass, gifted to the ISB by its founder, Gary Karr, with the Schulhoff Trio (with flautist Cathy Payne and violist Nancy Severance) on the San Francisco Symphony Chamber Music Series on April 10th, and the Bottesini Grand Duo at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on April 29th as a benefit. Dan Styffe, co-principal bass of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music, will premiere a new bass concerto by Swedish composer by Rolf Martinsson, with conductor Jukka Pekka Saraste and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in Osklo on April 7th. The performance will be recorded for CD release. Gottfried Engels is teaching a course for double bass at the State Academy for Music in Heek, Germany, April 15-21, 2011. For more information go to www.landesmusikakademie-nrw.de/kursangebot/instrumental/kontrabass/. On April 16, 2011 at 7 PM, Mark Morton, assistant professor of double bass and Renee Skerik, associate professor of viola at the Texas Tech University School of Music, will perform Evan Chambers' "Fischerstreet Duo" for viola and bass in the Hemmle Recital Hall.
The 7th Annual Iowa City Bass Day, hosted by University of Iowa professor of bass Volkan Orhon, takes place April 23rd at the University of Iowa School of Music with guest artist Anthony Stoops, professor of bass at the University of Oklahoma. For more information go to www.volkanbass.com. MAY
The first movement of Gary A. Edwards' new 20-minute "Double Bass Concerto No. 1" will be premiered on May 25, 2011 by the Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) High School String Ensemble Concert, Jim Phillips, conductor. Gary studied with Murray Grodner and graduated from Indiana University School of Music in 1964. He has played with the Spokane (Washington) Symphony and the Louisville (Kentucky) Symphony Orchestra for a time. For more information contact gedward@roadrunner.com.
Esra Gül, professor at the Anadolu University State Conservatory Double Bass Department and member of the Borusan Istanbul Philarmonic Orchestra, dedicates her 2011 recitals to Teppo Hauto-Aho in honor of his 70th birthday on May 27th: May 6th at the Istanbul Borusan Music Hause; May 27th at the Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey; June 8th at the ISB Convention at San Francisco State University; and September 11th at the International Double Bass Convention in Brno, the Czech Republic. Besides compositions by Teppo Hauto-aho, she will be performing works by Frank Proto, Francois Rabbath and Tom Knific.
Go to www.barcelonabass.com for more information on a double bass weekend in Barcelona, Spain, May 28th-29th, organized by Jonathan Camps of the l'Orquestra Simfňnica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya and professor of bass at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya.
JUNE
Jeffry Eckels will be on the faculty at the University of North Carolina Summer Jazz Workshop, June 20-24, 2011, which provides an opportunity for high school seniors, college students, band directors and post-graduate adults in the community to receive 3.0 college credit hours studying jazz theory and improvisation, playing in a combo, participating in group lessons and enjoying evening concerts. Younger students (high school freshman to juniors) can enroll for afternoon and evening events. Click here for more information and application forms.
The Hammond Ashley Memorial Double Bass Workshop will be held at Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington, June 27-July 1, 2011, offering advanced classes with Max Dimoff, principal bass of the Cleveland Orchestra and Jeff Bradetich. Beginner, intermediate and adult classes will be taught by Todd Gowers, Ben Musa and Miriam Chong. Contact Todd Gowers at toddgowers@wwdb.org.
The 27th annual Colorado College Summer Music Festival takes place June 6-26, 2011. Full scholarships for all accepted students for tuition and room and board. On the faculty is Colorado Symphony bassist and University of Denver's Lamont School of Music instructor Susan Cahill. Go to www.ArtsFestival.ColoradoCollege.edu/MusicFestival for more information.
The North Texas Double Bass Camps at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, feature four opportunities for summer study that meet the needs of bass students of any age or playing ability. The 23rd annual Bradetich Master Classes, June 13-17, 2011. The Beginners and Intermediate Bass Camp, June 15-17, 2011. The Pirastro Strings Elite Soloists Program, May 30 - June 3, 2011; and the Lynn Seaton Jazz Bass Workshop, June 13-17, 2011. For information go to http://music.unt.edu/strings/untbasscamp.shtml.
JULY
The Bass Coalition 2011 Summer Workshop will be held July 9-10, 2011 at Shenandoah University-Conservatory in Winchester, VA. Faculty will include Donovan Stokes, Inez Wyrick, and guest artist Peter Dominguez of the Oberlin Conservatory and will include masterclasses, lessons, chamber music and ensemble performances by faculty and participants. Go to www.basscoalition.com for more information.
The 18th annual Oklahoma City University Summer Bass Camp will be held July 17-23, 2011, in the Wanda L. Bass Music Center on the campus of Oklahoma City University. Directed by ISB board member and professor of double bass John Schimek, the camp is open to high school and college-aged students. Orchestra directors who would like to come for some review work on the bass are invited to participate. For more information or to download an application visit Facebook: Oklahoma City University Bass Camp and click on the photos tab.
Lynn Seaton and Jeffry Eckels are double bass faculty members for the University of North Texas Jazz Combo Workshop, July 17-22, 2011 in Denton Texas. For more information contact Mike Steinel, 940/565-3758 or 940/565-3743 michael.steinel@unt.edu.
The Kansas City Bass Workshop, July 18-21, 2011, is open to all ages and abilities and all styles of playing. The faculty includes Donovan Stokes, Hans Sturm, Tracy Rowell and Johnny Hamil. Masterclasses, solo performances and recitals, small and large bass ensembles, including a final concert. For more information or to make your reservation contact John Hamil, (816) 305-7559, jhamil@kc.rr.com.
Gottfried Engels and Thierry Barbé will be giving a summer camp in Montepulciano, Italy from July 24-31, 2011. Go to http://www.palazzoricci.com/meisterkurse for more information.
Miloslav Jelinek will give solo and chamber music masterclasses July 16th through August 7th, in Brandys and Labem and Prague, Czech Republic. For more information and an application, go to
http://www.ameropa.org/main.htm.
Duncan McTier will hold his annual masterclass at the Académie de Musique Tibor Varga in Sion, Switzerland, from July 18th-23rd.See www.amsion.ch for details.
The 2011 Samba Meets Jazz Workshops take place in Bar Harbor, Maine, July 24th-30th and July 31st-August 6th. Bass players (electric or upright) of all ages and abilities and from all musical backgrounds, along with other instrumentalists and vocalists, will have an opportunity to study with bassist Nilson Matta, guitarist/educator Roni Ben-Hur, Afro-Cuban pianist/band leader Arturo O'Farrill, saxophonist Steve Wilson, percussionist Gilad Durecky and vocalist Amy London. Total immersion in masterclasses, and jazz, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban ensembles. High school students welcome if chaperoned. For more information go to www.SambaMeetsJazz.com, email alice@SambaMeetsJazz.com or call 1-888-435-4003
ISB past president Hans Sturm will teach bass and coach chamber music at the Benefic Chamber Music Camp, July 31st - August 6th at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. The week-long camp for ages 15 to 20 includes daily chamber music coachings, private lessons focused on mastering assigned chamber music repertoire, masterclasses (including Boris Astafiev, member of the Cincinnati Symphony Bass Section), faculty concerts and student chamber music performances. Bonus programs include musician's development seminars and workshops will be offered including presentations on health and wellness, the art of recording, improvisation, sight-reading, audition preparation and instrument maintenance. The application fee is waived for students applying before March 15th and reduced tuition is offered for students applying before May 10th. For more information go to www.BeneficMusic.com.
AUGUST
The Mittenwald International Master Classes, August 1-6, 2011, with Jeff Bradetich will be held in Mittenwald, Germany. For information go to www.music.unt.edu/mittenwald.
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Festivals, Competitions & Auditions
Attention, bass makers, click here to download rules and entry form for the 2011 ISB Maker's Competition.
The 2011 Recital Music Composition Competition for Double Bass is open to composers of any age or nationality, and works written in any style or idiom. Categories for unaccompanied double bass or bass with piano or string orchestra, and works for one or more double basses with other instruments. Competition rules at www.recitalmusic.net, competition deadline is April 15, 2011.
The 11th International Double Bass Convention takes place in Brno, the Czech Republic, September 18-24, 2011. Click here for a complete brochure. For more information contact artistic director Miloslav Jelinek at jelinekmilos@volny.cz.
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Music Bringing Us All Together
The ISB is a partner organization in the Music Teachers National Association's (MTNA) "Year of Collaborative Music." From March, 2010 through March, 2011, we will be encouraging ISB members to present concerts and events that promote the role of the bass in small ensembles. Click here for more information and to view a calendar of performances plus a list of chamber music resources.
Click here to view and listen to video clips from 2009's "Deep Tones for Peace," held on a worldwide virtual stage, featuring Mark Dresser, Barre Phillips, Henry Grimes, Chi-chi Nwanoku, Bert Turetzky, William Parker, Rufus Reid, Irina-Kalina Goudeva, Thierry Barbé, J.C. Jones and others in solo and ensemble performances.
Listen to "The Cool Jazz Set," hosted by ISB member Paul Pearce, to hear some of your favorite jazz artists each week live at 7 PM EST at www.wdce.org, or later at www.cooljazzset.com.
Learn more about the life and legacy of the late, great bassist Red Mitchell at the newly relaunched website www.redmitchell.com.
Young bassists and their teachers, go to the Kilenny School of Ireland, www.kilkennyschoolofmusic.net, to find free downloadable sheet music and play-along mp3 files. |
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Benefitting the ISB
 Sales from "Lynn Seaton Live" at the 2003 ISB Convention, with Lynn Seaton, bass, Bill Mays, piano, and Tim Froncek, drums benefit the International Society of Bassists. Listen to both originals and favorites from Lynn's amazing ISB convention debut. Buy here!
Ovidiu Badila began to study music at the age of six in Romania, and gained international renown, winning numerous prizes for his virtuosity. He was professor of the Staaliche Hochschule fur Musik of Trossingen in Germany and had recently started teaching at the Musik-Akademic der Stadt Basel in Switzerland before his untimely death in 2001. Here is a two-disk recording of his final recital, complete with the artist's lively commentary, given at the University of Washington in Seattle and hosted by Barry Lieberman. Barry released the CD as a tribute to Ovidiu Badila's brilliant and far too brief life and career, and has donated copies of the CD to the ISB. All sales benefit the International Society of Bassists, purchase here!
A portion of sales from the required piece for the Age 14 and Under Division of the 2011 ISB Double Bass Competition, Song and a Dance for Double Bass & Piano, written by Blaise Ferrandino and published by Ludwin Music, www.ludwinmusic.com, will be donated back to the ISB by the composer and publisher.
The first and only biography to date of jazz bassist Scott LaFaro has been published by the University of North Texas Press. Written by his sister, Helene LaFaro Fernandez, Jade Visions tells the story of one of the 20th century's most influential jazz musicians. Best known for his recordings with Bill Evans, he played bass a mere seven years before his life and career were tragically cut short by an automobile accident at age 25. The winner of the 2010 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research in Jazz, it combines an intimate look at his family along with insights into LaFaro's music and career by Gene Lees, Don Thompson, Jeff Campbell, Phil Palombi, Barrie Kolstein, Chuck Ralston and many others. Hardback, 352 pages, including never before published photos. $25 plus shipping and handling at http://www.isbstore.com/miscellaneous.html.  The perfect companion to the Scott LaFaro biography Jade Visions is the newly released CD, Pieces of Jade. Listen to some of LaFaro's earliest recordings with pianist Don Friedman and drummer Pete LaRoca, plus a 1966 interview with Bill Evans, over 20 minutes of an Evans and LaFaro rehearsal, and "Memories for Scotty," a solo piano tribute by Don Friedman. A must-have for fans of jazz and every bassist now available at the ISB Online Store, with a portion of proceeds from sales benefitting the ISB's Scott LaFaro Prize fund. $15 plus shipping and handling at http://www.isbstore.com/miscellaneous.html.
The George Vance Young Bassists Education Fund, established in honor and memory of the late George Vance, and will be dedicated to offering educational opportunities for young bassists. Send donations payable to the International Society of Bassists and addressed to the George Vance Young Bassists Education Fund, International Society of Bassists, 14070 Proton Rd., Suite 100, LB 9, Dallas, Texas 75244. The ISB is a 501(C)(3) organization and all donations are tax deductible as allowed by law. |
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