Mr.
Bass, the composer, has achieved an impressive array of performances and
commissions by prestigious ensembles throughout the United States, among these:
the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Boston Pops
Orchestra. His Gloria
was premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1990 by the New York Pops Orchestra under
Skitch Henderson; this same composition has been recorded by the Boston Pops
Orchestra with Keith Lockhart and can be heard on their latest Christmas CD
release, Holiday Pops.
His
arrangement of Conquest of Paradise,
by Vangelis, was commissioned by the Boston Pops Orchestra and can be heard on
their 2000 CD re-release Summon the
Heroes, under the baton of eminent film composer John Williams.
Additionally, his works have been performed by the Tanglewood Chorus, The
Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Grand Rapids Symphony and Chorus, the Dallas
Symphony and Chorus as well as numerous other orchestras and choruses throughout
the U. S. and Europe. Active since
the late 1970’s as an arranger, Mr. Bass is now focusing his talents on
original composition, largely due to the demand for his music.
He has just completed an extensive Christmas cantata, commissioned and
recently premiered by the First Methodist Church of Lancaster, PA.
Mr.
Bass, the performer, sings regularly with the Dallas Symphony Chorus. During the
summer of 1997, he toured with that ensemble on their Israeli tour, performing
Mahler’s Symphony #8 under the
baton of Zubin Mehta. Most recently, he performed as solo pianist with the Coast
Guard Academy Band in New London, CT in his own wind transcription of Ernst von
Dohnanyi’s Variations on a Nursery Tune.
Born
in Fort Worth in 1953, Mr. Bass grew up in Midland, Texas, studying piano,
working in community theater and singing with local choral ensembles. A longtime
student of choral music, Mr. Bass earned his Bachelors Degree in 1976 from the
University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting in
1980 from The College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, OH, and pursued
doctoral studies in choral and wind conducting at both Ohio State University's Robert
Shaw Institute and the University of Texas at Austin.
Mr.
Bass has historically worked actively in his various communities to further the
non-professional musician’s understanding and appreciation for the musical
arts. He has founded several civic wind and choral groups during his career,
helping to provide other musicians the opportunities he enjoyed as a young
performer in civic orchestras, bands and theater groups. He founded the Austin
Symphonic Band in 1982 and was its Music Director and Conductor for four years.
That group continues to perform as the official musical ensemble for the City of
Austin.
Mr. Bass currently serves as Music Director and Conductor for the Metropolitan Winds of Dallas, a community-based civic wind ensemble, regularly providing arrangements and compositions for that organization as well as other bands, choirs and orchestras in North Texas and elsewhere.
In the fall of 2003, Mr. Bass conducted the National Symphony of London and the Tallis Choir in a CD compendium of many of his Holiday compositions and arrangements, subsequently released under the title A Feast of Carols.