Gary Karr
| Gary Karr | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Born |
November 20, 1941 Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, professor |
| Instruments | Double bass |
| Years active | ca. 1960–2002 |
| Website | www.GaryKarr.com |
| Notable instruments | |
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Double-bass ex-Bottesini 1716 Testore Karr-Koussevitzky 1611 Amati |
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Gary Karr (born November 20, 1942 in Los Angeles, California) is an American classical double bass player and teacher; he is considered one of the best bassists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Although he comes from several generations of bassists, he was not encouraged by them to go into music. In an interview with ActiveBass magazine he said that he has no contact with the professional bassists in his family.
His major teachers include Herman Reinshagen and Stuart Sankey, with whom he studied at the Aspen Music Festival and the Juilliard School. Karr's breakthrough came in 1962, when he was featured as a soloist in a nationally televised New York Philharmonic Young People's Concert, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. On that famous telecast, Karr performed "The Swan" from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. Karr also recorded the piece with Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.
He has since appeared as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Simon Bolivar Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and with all the major orchestras of Australia.
He has premiered new works written for him by Vittorio Giannini (Psalm CXX), Alec Wilder (Sonata for Double Bass and Piano and Suite for Double Bass and Guitar), Robert Xavier Rodriguez (Ursa, Four Seasons for Double Bass and Orchestra), and the concertos for double bass and orchestra by Gunther Schuller, Hans Werner Henze, John Downey and Ketil Hvoslef. He has recorded the Serge Koussevitzky concerto with Oslo Philharmonic.
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Wikipedia