Elisabeth Ellison

Double bass is my main instrument. I started at the age of 11, having previously studied violin and piano. I have a downbeat Magazine recording award for concerto with orchestra, and have played with numerous symphony orchestras and festivals in addition to chamber music and solo recitals. I am currently working toward a Performer and a Teaching Diploma with the legendary soloist/recording artist François Rabbath in Paris. Classical music is my focus, though I also enjoy playing standards and musicals, which offer specific musical and technique dimensions that I like to keep current.

I have taught long-term technique classes in double bass, as well as workshops and clinics.  

A variation on the double bass (and a reason to buy an additional bass!) is one that is specialized for Baroque music (ca. 1650-1750), requiring, among (but not limited to!) other defining features, gut strings and a different style bow. Sometimes one puts frets on the bass. However, gut strings and a pointy bow don't make a Baroque player! The correct equipment is inseparable from informed Baroque performance practice, a keen ear for the style, an understanding of Baroque compositional theory, a passion for the repertoire, and adaptation of playing technique. Baroque music has been my main interest since I started playing. I have both an original, 18th-century Baroque-era double bass and a modern-made, "Baroque-ified" bass that I retrofitted. I have commissioned a number of my historical bass bows. 

The viola da gamba flourished in the Renaissance and Baroque eras with a titanic amount of solo, consort and continuo literature. As a double bassist, I find it invaluable to also study the viola da gamba to refine technique as well as access very gratifying solo literature that doesn't exist for the double bass. I also prefer it as a continuo instrument, as I'm not a fan of being left out/sitting still in performances until the final chorale (the majority of continuo parts do not include double bass). I play the bass viola da gamba in formal viol consorts and continuo settings, as well as for English Country Dance and historical re-enactments, which I find to be highly-valuable audience engagement. I began viola da gamba studies in 1979 with Wayne Moss, and continue to regularly study technique and solo literature with Tina Chancey (Hesperus, The Folger Consort). I'm Vice President of the local chapter of the Viola da Gamba Society America and a member of Les Touches Viol Consort. My bass gamba is by Hannibale Fagnola, Turin, 1904.