Contrabass Conversations

This is a special Recital Showcase edition of Contrabass Conversations featuring the music of John Grillo. John was interviewed on Contrabass Conversations episode 6. This episode is a live performance of John's complete recital, which was performed in Pittsburgh, PA in 2006. Recital Program: Bach Suite No. 3 for Solo Violincello Allemande Sarabande Bourrees I and II Gigue John Grillo, Double Bass Schubert "Arpeggione" Sonata Allegro Moderato Andante Allegro John Grillo, Double Bass Alaine Fink, Piano David Anderson-Seven Double Bass Duets Kibbles & Kibitz Parade of the Politically Prudent Pigs Gustav's 11 O'clock Dance Schgweik Farht Lament Blue Cheeze Rush Hour Peter Guild- Double Bass(member Pittsburgh Symphony) John Grillo - Double Bass Stanley Chepaitis-Slow Dance Duet for Violin and Double Bass (Transcription-John Grillo) Stanley Chepaitis- Violin John Grillo - Double Bass Stanley is a violin professor at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Original piece written for violin and cello. About John: John started playing Double Bass at the age of 11. He attended The Julliard School during high school and was a scholarship student at Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana where he studied with Lawrence Hurst. After graduating from IU, he attended the Manhattan School of Music completing his Masters Degree with Timothy Cobb. Mr. Grillo performed at The Tanglewood Music Center from 1994 to 1996. Other festivals include the National Repertory Orchestra, Festival di Due Mondi in Italy, and Pacific Music Festival in Japan. John is Principal Double Bass of the Princeton Symphony and is a substitute with the Philadelphia Orchestra. John was a member of the New World Symphony from 1999-2002. His other professional engagements include performances with the New Jersey Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera, Wheeling Symphony, Memphis Symphony, and the Sarasota Opera. John was a faculty member with The Pittsburgh Music Academy from 2002-2006. Future engagements include the Iris Orchestra, Philadelphia Virtuosi, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Princeton Festival, The Philly Pops, Opera New Jersey and the Princeton Symphony.

Andrew Anderson performs in nearly 150 concerts every year and teaches over a dozen students of all levels each week. Andrew Anderson is a member of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic, and performs regularly with Music of the Baroque. He has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Columbus Symphony, American Ballet Theater, and New World Symphony. He has held positions in twelve different orchestras across seven states, serving as principal bass in four of them. Andrew has performed recitals at Wheaton College, radio broadcasts on WDCB Jazz, and at the Chicago Cultural Center with the Chicago Bass Ensemble and also with bass voice, Andrea Silvestrelli. Andrew served both as Principal Bass and as a Soloist with the National Repertoire Orchestra in 2003. Andrew has presented at the Chicago Bass Festival every year since its inception. Andrew enjoys teaching positions at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and The Wheaton Conservatory in addition to his private studios in Northwest Indiana and at the String Academy of Chicago in downtown Wheaton, Illinois. Information on Andrew's studios can be found on his website www.andersonbassworks.com. Andrew has a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Michigan, a Master of Music Degree from Indiana University, and served as a doctoral teaching fellow at the University of North Texas. Andrew's teachers include Stuart Sankey, Lawrence Hurst, Jeff Bradetich, Larry Zgonc, Bill Clay,Steve Molina, and his father Dave Anderson. Andrew studied string pedagogy with Robert Culver at the University of Michigan, and low string pedagogy at Indiana University with Helga Winolt. Andrew often appears as a sectional coach at DePaul University, the Elgin Youth Symphony, the Chicago Youth Symphony and Midwest Young Artists, and for nearly a decade has been a coach for the Elgin Youth Symphony's Chamber Music Institute. Andrew has supported public school music programs with benefit recitals in and around his hometown of Portland, Oregon. From 2011 to 2014 Andrew started a before school string ensemble at Westminster Christian School in Elgin, Illinois where he volunteered as the director. Andrew moved to Lowell, Indiana in 2014 where he now lives with his wife Rose, and their three sons.

This week's Contrabass Conversations episode features an interview and musical performances from double bassist John Grillo. John has got some great insight into the world of the bass, and this interview was both a lot of fun to do and very informative and interesting. About John: John started playing Double Bass at the age of 11. He attended The Julliard School during high school and was a scholarship student at Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana where he studied with Lawrence Hurst. After graduating from IU, he attended the Manhattan School of Music completing his Masters Degree with Timothy Cobb. Mr. Grillo performed at The Tanglewood Music Center from 1994 to 1996. Other festivals include the National Repertory Orchestra, Festival di Due Mondi in Italy, and Pacific Music Festival in Japan. John is Principal Double Bass of the Princeton Symphony and is a substitute with the Philadelphia Orchestra. John was a member of the New World Symphony from 1999-2002. His other professional engagements include performances with the New Jersey Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera, Wheeling Symphony, Memphis Symphony, and the Sarasota Opera. John was a faculty member with The Pittsburgh Music Academy from 2002-2006. Future engagements include the Iris Orchestra, Philadelphia Virtuosi, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Princeton Festival, The Philly Pops, Opera New Jersey and the Princeton Symphony. Double bass tracks for this episode consist of excerpts from David Anderson's Seven Double Bass Duets and Slow Dance by Stanley Chepaitis. Complete information: David Anderson-Seven Double Bass Duets Kibbles & Kibitz Parade of the Politically Prudent Pigs Gustav's 11 O'clock Dance Schgweik Farht Lament Blue Cheeze Rush Hour Peter Guild- Double Bass(member Pittsburgh Symphony) John Grillo - Double Bass Stanley Chepaitis-Slow Dance Duet for Violin and Double Bass (Transcription-John Grillo) Stanley Chepaitis- Violin John Grillo - Double Bass Stanley is a violin professor at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Original piece written for violin and cello.

This show features an interview with double bassist Phillip W. Serna. Phillip is an active double bass and viola da gamba performer, clinician, and pedagogue in the Chicago metropolitan area. In this episode of Contrabass Conversations, Phillip discusses his early years studying the bass, his training in Houston, TX, San Francisco, CA, and Chicago, IL, and general student advice. Visit him online at http://www.phillipwserna.com/ News & Notes: One of my crazy gig stories was excerpted for an article in Double Bassist magazine. Music played: Music from Phillip Serna Scott Worthington - Disrepresentation http://members.cox.net/stwbass [email protected]

This episode features part 1 of an interview with double bassist Andrew Anderson. Andy is a member of the double bass sections of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. In this episode, Andy discusses his early training and college years studying the double bass. Some listener feedback closes this episode of Contrabass Conversations.

Music played on this podcast is available from the Podsafe Music Network. Check them out at http://music.podshow.com. Jason starts this week's episode by playing Tu Cha Cha Cha by Antonin Bastian. Check out Antonin's blog at http://dr-vibe.blogspot.com/. Listener feedback from Ed in Sydney, Australia. Jason discusses the January performance of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra. Jason discusses the ins and outs of some aspects of the freelance music world. The comments are geared toward classical double bass players, but the information may be of value to all instrumentalists. The last track played on this episode is Spherical by saxophonist Evan Tate. There is a great bass solo by Henning Sieverts on this track. Check out Evan's website here.

In this episode of Contrabass Conversations, Jason discusses the gear he is using to record Contrabass Conversations. For this episode he is using: iRiver IFP-899 Sony ECM MS957 (the price has really dropped since I bought it six years ago!) Last episode Jason use the same microphone into his laptop through a Griffin iMic . The results are actually much cleaner into the iRiver than into the laptop. Music played on this podcast: Agnus Dei by double bassist Peter Lawson This is an excerpt from a very interesting piece written by a very creative double bassist. For more information on this and other works by Peter Lawson you can e-mail him at [email protected]. Peter studied with Michael Hovnanian at Northwestern University (Michael now teaches at Roosevelt University) and with Rob Kassinger at DePaul University. He is a great double bassist, a great composer, and an all-around great guy. CORRECTION: Although Peter plays with the Madison Symphony, he is not a member of this ensemble. He won an audition in the past for this organization but had to turn the position down due to scheduling concerns, so although he does perform with this group, he is not a member. Jason discusses several auditions coming up for the double bass. Although there aren't many jobs this month, there are several summer festivals holding auditions: North Carolina School of the Arts Artist/Teacher of Bass beginning Fall 2007 National Repertory Orchestra Audition tour in January and February Festival runs from 6/10-8/5 in 2007 Detroit Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Fellow - 2007-08 Season deadline for tapes: 2/6/07 AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria 7/10-8/11 in 2007 Live auditions 2/25-3/31 in various North American cities taped auditions acceptable Huntsville Symphony Orchestra Audition for Bass 5 per-service position for more information, e-mail [email protected] Kent/Blossom Chamber Music Festival 7/1-8/12 in 2007 Tanglewood Music Center The Boston Symphony Orchestra's Academy for Advanced Musical Study 6/21-8/20 in 2007 apply online New World Symphony National Audition Tour January through March in 2007 apply online Another great program always worth checking out is the Aspen Music Festival and School. The best place to find current audition information is at musicalchairs.info.

Hello, and welcome to Contrabass Conversations, your weekly podcast for double bass interviews, resources, news, and music! Contrabass Conversations is a new project by Jason Heath. You can find all information for this show at http://contrabassconversations.com. This show will be released every Monday. Most shows will be in an interview format, but these first few shows will be with Jason alone. The show will not exceed 30 minutes in length. I would rather have people wanting more Contrabass Conversations than begging for less! When I am doing a show alone the length will be around 15-20 minutes, and when I have a guest, shows will be around 20-30 minutes in length. Topics covered in these shows will include profiling specific excerpts, solos, and audition lists, double bass techniques and practice strategies, and general advice for pursuing developing one's ability on the bass and pursuing a professional career on the bass. I already have some great guests lined up for this show, but I would like to interview YOU for this show! People from all walks of life, from students and amateurs to professional performers and pedagogues all have valuable information to share, and I plan on interviewing representatives from all of these groups of people. Link of the week: http://talkbass.com Talkbass is the best double bass and electric bass forum available online. Please visit them, participate, and support them. They are a great resource. Paul Determan (founder of Talkbass) and I used to play in the South Dakota Symphony together. For more double bass and general music information, visit my blog: http://doublebassblog.com