International Society of Bassists

Announcing the 2024 ISB David Walter Composition Competition Results

UNACCOMPANIED SOLO BASS
Grand Prize: Manifestations (solo double bass) by Max Winningham, USA
Honorable Mention: Pacificus (solo double bass) by Angelique Poteat, USA

CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
Grand Prize: Yurei (soprano and double bass) by Jean-Patrick Besingrand, USA
Honorable Mention: Strings' Grief (violin and bass) by Miyuki Ito, Japan
Honorable Mention: Vocalize (double bass and piano) by JungAh Lee, South Korea
Honorable Mention: Bully Mammoth (violin, cello and double bass) by William Langlie-Miletich, USA
Honorable Mention: Prime (percussion and double bass) by Hannah Selin, USA
Honorable Mention: Scenes from a Modern War: Elegy (double bass and string quartet) by Ian Stephens, England
Honorable Mention: The Beehive (double bass and piano) by Sam Suggs, USA

BASS ENSEMBLE
Grand Prize: Thousandth Hymnal (bass septet) by David Roche, United Kingdom
Honorable Mention: Shapeshifter (bass sextet) by Adam Goodwin, Germany
Honorable Mention: We Share Our Arrows (multiple double basses) by Ryan McMasters, USA

DOUBLE BASS AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA
Grand Prize: Real Time - The Elf in Big F (double bass and electronics) by Masashi Yamamoto, Japan
Honorable Mention: That Woman is Me (double bass and tape) by Rodrigo Mata Alvarez, Mexico
Honorable Mention: Snow Electrifies Her While I Chase Iridescence (double bass and electronics) by Claire Hu, USA

The biennial competition, which honors the legacy of double bass educator, performing artist and composer David Walter, is open to all composers. The 2024 competition is dedicated in loving memory of Robert Black, a champion of contemporary music who served as chair of the competition from 2000 to 2016.

All entries, submitted anonymously, are works in any style that have not yet entered the standard double bass repertoire. The grand prize of $1,000 for each division has been made possible through the generous support of the Robert Black Foundation, and also includes a performance at the 2025 ISB Convention, to be held June 2-7 at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

The ISB gratefully thanks our panel of judges for the many hours they spent in service of this year's competition: Szymon Marciniak, professor at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Saarbrücken, Germany; Krista Kopper, bassist and creator & host of The Backstage Creative podcast; and Daniele Roccata, professor at the Conservatory “Santa Cecilia” in Rome.

What is the most difficult John Williams score you have played? Any particularly tricky licks stand out?

Steven Spielberg on John Williams. 🎬❤️

John Williams had 12 entries in the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame Top 100 – more than any other film composer.

A very helpful video for our friends that take their bass on Amtrak. Thanks Maggie Cox!

How to take a Double bass on Amtrak

We have been getting questions about the Build-a-Bass sweepstakes all day, so here is some info!
We raised over $25,000 for the ISB and luthier scholarships!!! 🥳🎉 Thank you so much for all of your support and we can’t wait to see who gets to take home this beautiful instrument!

From scroll to tailpiece, this bass was built on donated time by some of the most talented luthiers we have, and it could be yours tomorrow! The sweepstakes ends TONIGHT at 11:59pm central time. You only have a few more hours to enter or donate, and we appreciate every dollar. Good luck!

Your entry into the Build-a-Bass sweepstakes supports the next generation of talented bass makers through the 2024-2025 ISB Rodney Mohr Luthier Scholarship Program. We’re down to 1 day and 15 hours left to enter or donate. We appreciate each and every one of you who has contributed and we can’t wait to see who gets to be the new owner of this beautiful instrument.

We are so grateful to the Build-A-Bass team for their craftsmanship and attention to detail. The instruments they create and hone are all throughout our bass community, and you could be the owner of the newest one. Special thanks to the team: Paul Hart, Trevor Davis, Andrew Stolfa, Zoe McCadams, Gian Pangaro, Tim Coerver, Ralph Alcala, Eric & Daniel Trujillo, Jacob Bradford, Brian Gencarelli, Andrew Hassel, Matthew Estlack, Yumi Fujimoto, Paul O’Connell, Ray Ramirez, Stephen Burke and John Anderson. 🗓️ 2 days left to enter for as little as $25.

They literally built-this-bass! The ISB Build-a-Bass luthier team, lead by Paul Hart, puts hours and hours of work into crafting this beautiful instrument. In just 4 days, you could be the first owner of this new bass! Enter the sweepstakes today! Ends August 20 🗓️

4 days left to enter the Build-a-Bass sweepstakes 🗓️We have raised over $17,000!! Can we make it $20,000 before the sweepstakes ends? 🧹🎟️ $25 gets you 10 entries.

6. Days. Left. Go enter our Build-a-Bass sweepstakes NOW. PS you don’t have to be an ISB member to enter, although we love it when a member does win. 😊

8 days left to enter our Build-a-Bass Sweepstakes for a chance to own this beautiful instrument! Some of the proceeds support the 2024-2025 ISB Rodney Mohr Luthier Scholarship Program. There is also an option to just donate, and not be entered for the bass. Link in bio.

8 days left to enter our Build-a-Bass Sweepstakes for a chance to own this beautiful instrument! Some of the proceeds support the 2024-2025 ISB Rodney Mohr Luthier Scholarship Program. There is also an option to just donate, and not be entered for the bass. Link in the comments.

Do you agree? What are you choosing to listen to on a long drive?

British Olympian Adam Burgess told Classic FM that classical music helps him on long drives, and has supported him during injury. ❤️

“I play a little bit of guitar. I started out when I had a back injury back in 2013 – the worst injury I’ve ever had. As an athlete when you get injured, you really lose a sense of your identity when you can’t train every day.

“Picking up the guitar then was a really good distraction for me, and a refound love for music. I actually played piano as a kid, so it was a nice way to reconnect with that.

“I like a bit of classical music, especially on a long drive. Good for the nervous system, good to stay calm. It’s just really soothing and it feels like real art.”

We spoke to the silver medallist at the house, where Classic FM and Global are official audio partner.

We have just over two weeks left to enter our Build-a-Bass sweepstakes. You all have raised over $11,000 already, which goes to support the ISB and the Rodney Mohr Luthier Scholarship Program. Don’t need another bass, but you just want to support the ISB? That is an option! Just click on “choose what you’d like to do.” The last slide shows you the great value of each tier of donation. Good luck and keep entering! Link to the in our bio.

Ouch.

A double bassist in the French National Orchestra plays on, while wearing a rain cover at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. ☔️

Happy Birthday Serge Koussevitsky 🎉 He was born on July 26, 1874.
We wish Mr. Edwin Barker good luck tonight on his Koussevitsky concerto performance with the Boston Symphony. He will be playing on the Karr-Koussevitsky bass, on loan from the ISB. Please tag us if you are one of the lucky ones who get to be an audience member.

Edwin Barker has announced his retirement at the of the 2024-25 season as Principal Bass of the Boston Symphony.

Long-standing Boston Symphony Orchestra principal double bassist announces retirement Edwin Barker was appointed to the role nearly 50 years ago in 1976

🗣️ This bass could be yours! 📣 This is the bass for the 2024 ISB Build a Bass Sweepstakes! At the 2023 convention at the University of Michigan, the ISB Build a Bass Team of luthier volunteers, led by Paul Hart, generously shared their time and incredible talents to create not just one, but two instruments like none other!

Double bass number two, a gamba-shaped Wilhelm Klier model, was begun in Ann Arbor and completed in 2024 by Paul Hart and the team at Robertson & Sons Violins in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This brand new beautiful bass is waiting for a home so it can begin its musical life.

The winner is responsible for cost of shipping/delivery from Robertson & Sons Violins in Albuquerque to the winner’s door.

A portion of the proceeds from this sweepstakes will support the 2024-2025 ISB Rodney Mohr Luthier Scholarship Program.

Congratulations to Leon Bosch for being awarded the 2024 COBBETT MEDAL FOR SERVICES TO CHAMBER MUSIC. 👏👏
He is the first double bass player to be honoured in the award’s 100 year history.

From the press statement: “The British virtuoso, who was born in Cape Town in 1961 before moving to the UK to study at the Royal Northern College of Music, will also become the first Black musician to receive the award.
Leon Bosch is artistic director of I Musicanti, a mixed instrument ensemble comprising some of the most experienced and respected musicians in the UK.”

Wow! Way to go Andrew Raciti and the whole bass studio over at the Bienen School of Music. Excellent news all around.

Today we’re shining a well-deserved spotlight on our double bass studio, led by Andrew Raciti! Congratulations to these incredible students and alumni.

⭐ Recent Alumni Placements:
• Brendan Fitzgerald ’15, assistant principal, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
• Jakob Gerritsen ’20, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
• Casey Karr ’17 MMus, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
• Michael Martin ’17, principal, Chicago Sinfonietta
• Jake Platt ’20, ’22 MMus, assistant principal, Louisville Orchestra
• Avery Weeks ’21, Houston Symphony

⭐ Students & ’24 Grads - Summer Activities:
• Luisa Brown-Hernandez ’24, Domaine Forget International Music Festival
• Sophie Denhard ’24, Wabass Institute - Honeywell Arts Academy
• Broner McCoy, Pacific Music Festival
• Oliver Spalter, Pacific Music Festival and Althofener MeisterKlassen
• Abriham Vinnakota, Aspen Music Festival
• Alex Wallack, National Repertory Orchestra
• Lucas Zurbuchen, Aspen Music Festival

⭐ Special Award:
• Master’s student Broner McCoy is the first-ever recipient of the International Society of Bassists’ Al Fisher Scholarship Grant.

Congratulations to Tyler Shepherd on his appointment as Assistant Professor of Double Bass at Oklahoma City University! An educator and performer, he has played Principal Bass with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Chattanooga Symphony & Opera. He most recently taught at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, University of Texas at Arlington, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Young Strings. Shepherd has been awarded fellowships to Tanglewood Music Center -- where he won the Maurice Schwartz Prize -- and to the Pacific Music Festival of Japan. He earned his MM in String Performance from Boston University and his BM in String Performance from Berklee.

On Friday July 26, in observance of Sergei Koussevitzky’s 150th Birthday, The Boston Symphony will perform Koussevitzky’s Double Bass Concerto, performed by BSO principal bass Ed Barker. He will be playing the Karr Koussevitzky Bass on loan from the International Society of Bassists. If you can’t make it to The Shed at the end of this month, you’ll have another opportunity to hear him play on this special bass in the near future 👀

Photos courtesy of BSO and

Did you see the latest ISB email blast??

In observance of the 150th birthday of conductor, composer and double bassist Sergei Koussevitzky (1874-1951) and the 100 years since his appointment as the Boston Symphony Orchestra's music director, the BSO will perform music Koussevitzky composed, premiered, championed, or commissioned on the weekend of his actual birthday, July 26.
On Friday, July 26 at the Shed, the BSO will perform pieces that Koussevitzky premiered as a conductor: Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire with pianist Yefim Bronfman and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Sibelius’ The Origin of Fire with baritone Will Liverman, Steven Mackey’s Urban Ocean, and Koussevitzky’s Double Bass Concerto performed by BSO principal bass Ed Barker (photo courtesy of the BSO) playing the Karr Koussevitzky Bass on loan from the International Society of Bassists. Go to www.bso.org to purchase tickets.

Excellent news! Congrats Michael Martin!

Chicago Sinfonietta invites you to join us in welcoming our new Principal Bass, Michael Martin!

Martin is a double bassist and teaching artist based in Evanston, Illinois. He regularly appears with orchestras across the country, including the Milwaukee, San Diego, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Kansas City symphonies, as well as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra, to name a few. Formerly, Martin was a fellow with the Chautauqua Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and the New World Symphony for three seasons. He holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from Northwestern University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music in double bass performance.

Summer festival season is almost upon us! Where will our members be playing this summer? Leave a comment and let us see where in the world you will be traveling with your bass this sunny season. ☀️😎

Reminder that presentation proposals for the 2025 ISB Convention are due tonight! ✍🏻

International Society of Bassists - Proposals - Overview / Guidelines The International Society of Bassists was founded by the world-renowned double bass virtuoso Gary Karr in 1967. With double bass player members in over 40 countries, the International Society of Bassists is an organization for those who teach the double bass, study the double bass, play the double b...

Congratulations to Tracy Rowell on her promotion to Associate Professor of Bass at the Oberlin Conservatory. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
We are so inspired by her work and dedication, and are proud to have her in the ISB family.

https://www.oberlin.edu/tracy-rowell

Are you a NY Times crossword fan? ISB President Gaelen McCormick found this clue today. ✍🏻👀

Congratulations to Strahinja Mitrović for being the first double bassist to win the Gold Medal competition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻