CBC 62: Opera Excerpt Breakdown with John Grillo
This week’s Contrabass Conversations episode features an in-depth analysis of the double bass opera excerpts most commonly requested at auditions. Double bassist (and regular Contrabass Conversations guest and co-host) John Grillo discusses each of these excerpts–stylistic considerations, differences in articulation and bow strokes, and suggestions for effectively learning them–and then performs them. We believe that this project will be a highly valuable resource for bassists worldwide, and we’d love your feedback on this project!
John and I created an excerpt breakdown for the most commonly requested orchestra excerpts back on CBC 41, and this has proven to be a highly popular and extremely useful resource to double bassists worldwide. Our hope is that this opera excerpt episode will do the same for the less familiar but wonderfully challenging double bass operatic literature.
Learn more about John at his new blog ClassicalMusicNews.tv, and check out all of his older Contrabass Conversations appearances here. You can also check out John in recital on his doublebassblog.org recital page.

Opera excerpts covered on this episode:
- Strauss
- Salome
- Rosenkavalier
- Wagner
- Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
- Die Walküre
- Britten
- Peter Grimes
- Verdi
- Otello
- Rigoletto
- Falstaff
- Weber
- Euryanthe
- Mozart
- Magic Flute
- Marriage of Figaro
- Beethoven
- Fidelo
- Humperdinck
- Hansel and Gretel







































February 7th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
[...] Conversations Episodes CBC 63: Chatting About Opera and Orchestra Bass Playing with John GrilloCBC 62: Opera Excerpt Breakdown with John GrilloCBC 61: Justin Locke stories, family concerts, and advice for performersCBC 60: Lynn Seaton [...]
March 13th, 2008 at 5:06 am
[...] You can also check out the complete series of excerpts in one single episode here, or check out John’s series covering opera excerpts here. [...]
January 31st, 2009 at 6:00 am
[...] Opera Excerpts Breakdown with John Grillo [...]
February 11th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
[...] Opera Excerpts Breakdown with John Grillo [...]
February 14th, 2009 at 6:00 am
[...] * Opera Excerpts Breakdown with John Grillo [...]
June 6th, 2009 at 7:12 am
[...] Opera Excerpt Breakdown [...]
June 6th, 2009 at 7:19 am
[...] CBC 120: Ed Barker interview on John Grillo Recital ShowcaseCBC 120: Ed Barker interview on CBC 62: Opera Excerpt Breakdown with John GrilloContrabass Conversations » Blog Archive » CBC 120: Ed Barker interview on CBC 28: R. [...]