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Double Bassist Brendan Kane has performed extensively throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Mr. Kane is the former principal bass of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra upon being appointed and tenured by Music Director Lahav Shani. Prior to the IPO, he was a member of the MET Orchestra for nine seasons, under the direction of Music Directors James Levine and subsequently Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Previously, Mr. Kane held the positions of principal bass of the Orquestra Filharmônica de Minas Gerais in Brazil, assistant principal bass of the Vancouver Symphony in Canada and performed as guest principal bass of the Hong Kong Philharmonic at the invitation of Edo de Waart.
For the past 15 years he has been touring the world as principal bass of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (VFCO) under the direction of Music Director Gábor Takács-Nagy, including annual residencies at the Verbier Festival and Schloss Elmau in Bavaria. Additionally, Mr. Kane is a regular guest with the Budapest Festival Orchestra at the invitation of Maestro Iván Fischer and for ten years performed every January at the St. Barths Music Festival in the Caribbean. Currently based in Europe, he has quickly become a much sought-after guest principal, chamber musician and clinician. He frequently performs as guest principal bass with orchestras such as Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Oslo Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Orkest, Geneva’s Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Singapore Symphony amongst others. He has also performed in the bass sections of the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Pittsburgh Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Mr. Kane has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The MET Orchestra Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, at the Verbier, Shenzen and Tsinandali festivals, Schloss Elmau, toured South Korea with the International Sejong Soloists, on the Israel Philharmonic’s chamber music series in Tel Aviv amongst numerous other festivals on both sides of the Atlantic alongside musicians such as Pinchas Zukerman, Maxim Vengerov, Leonidas Kavakos, Tabea Zimmerman, Misha Maisky and Sir Andras Schiff among others.
As a student, he was principal bass of the New York String Orchestra Seminar in Carnegie Hall and the Verbier Festival Orchestra, as well as a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, where he has returned numerous times as visiting faculty to coach and perform alongside current fellows at the invitation of Michael Tilson Thomas. A passionate educator, Mr. Kane has served as the double bass coach for the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra and currently serves as the double bass coach of the Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra (PCYO) at the Tsinandali Festival in the country of Georgia in collaboration with Music Director Gianandrea Noseda. He is frequently invited to give masterclasses and lectures around the world at such esteemed institutions as The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, The Colburn School in Los Angeles, Amsterdam Conservatory, Beijing’s National Arts Center, Tel Aviv University, Jerusalem Music Center, The Mehli Mehta Music Fondation in Mumbai and the State University of Minas Gerias (Brazil), amongst others. Mr. Kane’s teachers have included Tim Cobb, Don Palma, Brian Liddle, Leigh Mesh and Jim Orleans. He holds degrees with honors from the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School.
Reginald “Swingdoom” Veal represents the pinnacle of what music should be- balanced extensions of the artist’s aesthetical and spiritual ideas, mixed with a universal awareness for the world that surrounds him. Reginald has a music career that has spanned well over thirty-five years. During these years he has had the pleasure of lending his chops to the Who’s Who among the music world’s luminaries. Reginald’s love and openness for all music that lifts the spirit and touches the depths of the soul, inarguably has contributed to his musical genius and catapulted him among the ranks of the greatest bass players alive today. He believes when music comes from the heart and soul it is real and what comes from the heart reaches the heart. People close to Reginald say he can be a nonconformist. But that is what he thinks his fans love about him the most – the fact that they can depend on him to not follow the norm. Reginald is the alternative to the thing that is so easy to get. He is predictable, but in an unpredictable way. In other words, Reginald “Swingdoom” Veal is “A breath of fresh air.”
Nikolai Matthews is an Oslo-based double bass player and festival director, active in all kinds of groups and orchestras, but prioritising chamber music and contemporary music. He is co-artistic director of PODIUM Festival in Haugesund, and recently commissioned three trios for violin piano and double bass all financed by the Norwegian Arts Council.
His current main priorities of bass performing are the chamber orchestra Ensemble Allegria, Krantz (a chamber music concert series in Oslo), and Boyes Musikkompani (a violin-bass-piano trio which triples as a production company and a podcast).
After picking up the upright bass, Dubé attended musical studies at the Conservatoire de Québec , where he graduated with a Dîplome d’études supérieures, continuing at Rice University (Houston, TX) and then for two years at the Univesity of Southern California, where he earned his master’s degree. He studied both jazz and classical music, with the principal teachers Luc Sévigny, Paul Ellison, Dennis Trembly, John Clayton and Edwin Barker.
When he had completed musical studies Dubé worked as a freelance musician in North America for two years with different orchestras like the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony and the Orchestre symphonique de Québec , before moving to Scandinavia. He was Assistant Principal Double Bass at the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (1993-1996), and Principal Bass of Norrlands Opera (1996-2000). In 2000 he took up the position of Principal Bass of the Swedish Chamber orchestra. He has also appeared as a soloist with some of these orchestras. He has worked with different types of music, mostly jazz, folk music and of course classical, parallel to his orchestra career through the years. He plays in the jazz ensembles the Ivar Kolve Trio, Jonas Knutson Quartet, and in the duo Maria Johanson and Sébastien Dubé (bass and vocal), among others. His folk music partners include the Ale Möller Band, Duo Nyckelharpa and Bass (Torbjörn Näsbom), Harv, among others. In addition to this he organises concerts mixing different types of music and musicians together, including world music, jazz, folk or classical and sometimes even with symphony orchestras. Dubé has taught at the Domaine Forget Summer Festival in Québec, is a coach for the Baltic Youth Philharmonic and also holds a positions on the faculties at University of Öberbro and Ingesund Högskola.
American double bassist, educator and curator Mary Javian’s goal is to use music to create positive social change in communities. A graduate of Curtis Institute of Music, where she is now Chair of Career Studies, Javian studied with Harold Robinson. She has toured and has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and other world-class ensembles, and performed recitals and given masterclasses in the US, Europe and Asia. Her current role at Curtis has seen her develop in herstudents the entrepreneurial and advocacy skills that 21st century musicians need, with many going on to start their own educational programmes, innovative ensembles and music festivals around the world. She also presents and consults widely to musical institutions around the world. She also presents and consults widely to musical institutions about social entrepreneurship and community-based work.
Felix Moseholm, born on 9 September 1997 in Copenhagen, Denmark, is one of the exciting young voices on the double bass today. The list of artists he has worked with includes Samara Joy, Brad Mehldau, Sean Mason and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra feat. Wynton Marsalis.
Felix musical background is rooted in an early encounter with the classical cello repertoire. After playing the cello for 10 formative years he was encouraged to make the switch to double bass by his granduncle Erik Moseholm (bass player w. Don Byas, Eric Dolphy etc.)
At age 18, after a few years of playing professionally in Denmark, Felix decided to move to New York fueled by curiosity and a desire to learn about American culture and music in its birthplace.
In New York, Felix received mentorship by Gerald Cannon and George Coleman among others, while earning his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Juilliard (2018-2023). He quickly integrated into the local scene as he began performing regularly in and around the city while keeping up with his schoolwork at Juilliard.
Today Felix appears on multiple recordings, the latest being Sean Masons “The Southern Suite”, released October 27th, 2023. He can also be seen playing on Isaiah J. Thompson’s NPR Tiny Desk concert on YouTube. From NYC, where Felix is still based, he maintains a busy performance schedule both locally and on tour.
Felix Moseholm is a recipient of The Horace Parlan Talent Award, Irene Diamond Scholarship, Augustinusfonden along with other awards and honors.
Franck Cottet Dumoulin has premiered in France with the New Flore ensemble “TaBar” by Magdalena Dlugosz for solo double bass and tape, as well as “Orchester Finalisten” by Karlheinz Stockhausen for solo double bass and tape performed in octophony. He participated in the creation of ” Danse orange ” by Jean-François Charles for double bass, clarinet, percussion and a dancer. He is therefore frequently invited as a soloist in various creations for double bass solo, or in other original formats.
In 2008, he created a jazz duo with pianist Moncef Genoud, in 2009 the intuitive music duo Corde Sensible with Jean-Marie Reboul and in 2011 a duo with organist Nicolas Hafner. Today he performs regularly with the Michel Tirabosco Trio that he created in 2002 with pan flutist Michel Tirabosco and pianist Jean-Marie Reboul .
Franck Cottet Dumoulin has a passion for contemporary music, modern jazz, improvisation, and especially for intuitive music which has become his main and daily “quest”. The double bass also gives him the joy and privilege of being invited to many concert halls: in Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Zurich, Siena, Rome, Munich, Liège, Amsterdam, Delft, Krakow, Moscow, Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Nice, Monte-Carlo, etc…
Franck Cottet Dumoulin’s career before his encounter with the double bass was just as eclectic at the Conservatories of Lyon, Annecy, Nice, Lausanne and Geneva: Choral and orchestral conducting, trumpet player, trombonist, analysis and writing classes (harmony, counterpoint, fugue) and consequently composition.
He studied musicology at the University of Lyon where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree and a teacher diploma (CAPES). During 5 years, he also directed a Big Band of which he was the initiator.