Contemporary classical double bass players are performers who play the

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

, the largest and lowest-pitched

bowed Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to th ...

string instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the s ...

. They perform European art music ranging from

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

suites and

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

-era Classical pieces to contemporary and avant-garde works in a variety of settings, ranging from huge

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

s to small chamber groups, or as soloists. Historical double bassists such as Domenico Dragonetti (1763–1846) and Giovanni Bottesini (1821–1889) established a tradition for playing the instrument that was carried on in the 20th and 21st century with a number of double bass players. Gary karr

Some of the most influential contemporary classical double bass players are known as much for their contributions to pedagogy as for their performing skills, such as US bassist Oscar Zimmerman (1910–1987), known for his teaching at the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music ...

and, for 44 summers at the Interlochen Music Camp in Michigan and French-Syrian bassist

François Rabbath François Rabbath (born 1931 in Aleppo, Syria) is a contemporary French double-bass virtuoso, soloist, and composer. Career He was born into a Syrian family of musicians but his only instruction came from a book written by a Parisian bassist Edo ...

(born 1931), who developed a new bass method which divided the entire fingerboard into six positions. Bassists noted for their virtuoso solo skills include US player Gary Karr (born 1941) and Finnish bassist-composer Teppo Hauta-Aho (1941–2021). This is a list of notable professional classical double bass players, including orchestral performers, soloists, chamber musicians, and teachers.

Historical

* Johannes Matthias Sperger (1750–1812) composer * Domenico Dragonetti (1763–1846) composer, conductor * Giovanni Bottesini (1821–1889) composer, conductor *

Franz Simandl Franz Simandl (August 1, 1840 – December 15, 1912) was a Czech double-bassist and pedagogue most remembered for his book ''New Method for the Double Bass,'' known as the "Simandl book", which is to this day used as a standard study of doubl ...

(1840–1912) composer * Edouard Nanny (1872–1943) composer * Serge Koussevitzky (1874–1951) composer, conductor

North America

* Edwin Barker * Jeff Bradetich * Bruce Bransby * Maximilian Dimoff * Timothy Cobb * David Currie * Mark Dresser * Paul Ellison * Diana Gannett *

John Geggie John Geggie is an Ottawa-based Canadian bassist (double bass) who performs jazz with several Ottawa-based groups and performers.Larry Gray Larry Gray is a Chicago musician known for his compositions and skill on the double bass and cello. His primary teachers were Joseph Guastafeste, longtime principal bassist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and cellist Karl Fruh.University of I ...

* Barry Green * Mark Morton * Gary Karr * Albert Laszlo *

Eugene Levinson Eugene Levinson is the former principal double bassist of the New York Philharmonic and teaches at the Juilliard School. Career According to the New Method for Double Bass (Carl Fischer edition), Levinson, who was born in Kiev, began to study mu ...

* Salvatore Macchia *

Jeremy McCoy Jeremy McCoy (born January 19, 1978) is an American bass guitar player, known for playing on the road and in the studio with several artists around the world. Beginning career Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Jeremy spent his childhood and youth ...

* Linda McKnight * Homer Mensch * Edgar Meyer * Orin O'Brien * Donald Palma * Scott Pingel *

Frank Proto Frank Proto (born July 18, 1941 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American composer and bassist. He was a double bass student of Fred Zimmermann and David Walter. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music in 1966 with a Master of Music. A se ...

Joel Quarrington Joel Quarrington (born January 15, 1955) is a Canadian double bass player, soloist and teacher. He is the former Principal Double Bass of the London Symphony Orchestra. Career He was born in Toronto, Ontario, and began playing the double bass at ...

Hal Robinson Harold Hall ("Hal") Robinson (born July 29, 1952Birth records
of < ...

* Stuart Sankey * Karl E. H. Seigfried * Peter Seymour * Dennis Trembly * Bertram Turetzky *

Frederick Zimmermann Frederick Zimmermann (May 18, 1906 – August 3, 1967) was an American double bassist and teacher. He played in the New York Philharmonic from 1930 to 1966 and taught at the Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music, Columbia University, Manha ...

* Oscar G. Zimmerman * Trevor Dunn * Monica Witni

Europe

* Leon Bosch * Gavin Bryars * Jurek Dybal *

Gerald Drucker Gerald Drucker (5 August 1925 – 19 March 2010) was a British classical double bass player, photographer and double bass teacher. Principal Double Bass at the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, an ...

Renaud Garcia-Fons Renaud Garcia-Fons (born December 24, 1962) is a highly accomplished French upright-bass player and composer. Career Garcia-Fons started his musical studies at an early age. At five years old he picked up playing the piano, switched to classic ...

* Heinz Karl Gruber * Teppo Hauta-Aho * Rinat Ibragimov * Jorma Katrama * Joëlle Léandre *

Uxía Martínez Botana Uxía Martínez Botana (born 7 August 1988) is a Spanish double bass player. Early life and education Martínez Botana began learning the double bass and piano at the age of 6 at the elementary music conservatory Cristóbal Halffter in Ponferra ...

Duncan McTier Duncan McTier is an English double bass soloist and professor. He is a member of the Fibonacci Sequence. Biography Born in Worcestershire, England, Duncan McTier studied a degree in mathematics at Bristol University before joining the BBC Symphony ...

* Chi-chi Nwanoku *

Franco Petracchi Franco Petracchi (born September, 1937) is an Italian double bass soloist and teacher. He is a native of Pistoia, Tuscany, and the author of ''Simplified Higher Technique''. In his method, he introduces some conventions to playing in the thumb-pos ...

* Jean-Pierre Robert * Edicson Ruiz *

Rodney Slatford Rodney Slatford OBE (born 18 July 1944) is an English contemporary double bass player and teacher. He was the principal bass player of the Midland Sinfonia, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and English Chamber Orchestra, a founder of the Nash ...

* Allan von Schenkel *

Ludwig Streicher Ludwig Streicher (26 June 1920 – 11 March 2003) was a contrabassist from Vienna, Austria. Familiar to many as the former principal bass of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and bass soloist, he is also known as an instructor and as the author o ...

Joris Vanvinckenroye Joris Vanvinckenroye (born 1977), also known by his solo moniker BASta!, is a Flemish avant-rock and experimental double bass musician and composer. He is best known for Aranis, a neo-classical chamber rock group he founded and leads, and for h ...

* Rainer Zepperitz {{div col end

South America

* Edicson Ruiz

Asia

* Mikyung Sung

Historical

North America

Europe

South America

Asia

See also