Today’s program features several works by double bass virtuoso and composer Giovanni Bottesini. All works were recorded live on January 3rd, 2004, at Preston Bradley Hall in Chicago.

Today’s Program:

• Our first piece on the program is the Gran Duo in A for Clarinet and Double Bass by Giovanni Bottesini. This performance features Larry Combs on clarinet and Brad Opland on bass
• Our next piece on the program is the Gran Duo in A for Violin and Double Bass, with violnist Jasmine Lin joining Brad for this next segment
• We conclude today’s program Bottesini’s Passione Amorosa, performed here today by bassists Brad Opland and Dan Armstrong.

Check out more Exploring Chamber Music episodes at the show page on Contrabass Conversations, and listen to Brad Opland’s interview on Contrabass Conversations here.

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Welcome to Exploring Chamber Music with Brad Opland and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. This Contrabass Conversations special series highlights chamber music that includes the double bass. Learn more about the Chicago Chamber Musicians by visiting www.chicagochambermusic.org.

We’d like to extend special thanks to both Brad Opland and the Chicago Chamber Musicians for making this series possible. Listen to all Exploring Chamber Music episodes here, and hear Brad Opland in a Contrabass Conversations interview here.

We will be featuring the Brahms Serenade No. 1 in D Major on today’s program. This work was recorded on March 26, 2006 at Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. A performer roster and biographical information about the musicians is available here.

We’d like to extend special thanks to both Brad Opland and the Chicago Chamber Musicians for making this series possible. Listen to all Exploring Chamber Music episodes here, and hear Brad Opland in a Contrabass Conversations interview here.

We will be featuring two pieces on the program today. The first is the Wind Serenade in D minor by Antonin Dvorak. This piece is scored for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 3 horns, cello, and bass. It was recorded live on April 23rd, 2007 by the Chicago Chamber Musicians for their 20th Anniversary Season Finale and features:

• Michael Henoch and Alex Klein – oboe
• Larry Combs and Julie DeRoche – clarinet
• Dennis Michael and Lewis Kirk – bassoon
• Gail Williams, Jeremiah Frederick, Gabrielle Webster – horn
• Katinka Kleijn, cello
• Brad Opland, bass

The second piece on our program today is the String Quintet in C Major by Franz Schubert. This piece was recorded live in 2004.

Exploring Chamber Music is a multi-part series highlighting world-class performances of chamber music featuring the double bass.

About the Artists:

Bradley Opland, Double Bass
Brad Opland began his musical studies early and by age ten knew he wanted a career in a symphony orchestra. After graduating from high school a year early, he moved to Philadelphia to continue his musical studies at The Curtis Institute of Music. One year later, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski appointed Mr. Opland to the bass section of the Minnesota Orchestra at the age of eighteen, one of the youngest musicians ever hired. Mr. Opland stayed in Minnesota through the Neville Mariner years, moving to Chicago in 1984 after Maestro Solti offered him a position in the Chicago Symphony. Mr. Opland has been a member of The Chicago Chamber Musicians since 1992.

Gary Stucka, Cello 

Gary Stucka began playing the cello at the age of eight. He took his first lessons at the Park View School in Morton Grove and subsequently studied with Margaret Simpson, Harry Sturm, and Leonard Chausow. During his high school and early college years, he was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and he remembers the enlightening cello sectionals led by former principal cello Frank Miller. In his last year with the Civic, Gary received the Louis Sudler Foundation for the Musical Arts Award.

Gary continued his studies as a full scholarship student of Karl Fruh at the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University, where he earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in cello performance. He was assistant principal cello of the Grant Park Symphony and he served as principal of the Winnipeg Symphony from 1977 to 1981. In 1981, he joined the Cleveland Orchestra, where he remained until coming to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1986.

He is principal cello of the Ravinia Festival Orchestra and of the Ars Viva Chamber Orchestra. Since 1989, he has performed with the Orchestra’s assistant concertmaster David Taylor and pianist Andrea Swan in the critically acclaimed Pressenda Trio. He also has performed with the Chicago Symphony String Quartet. He continues to give recitals and often appears as soloist with numerous orchestras.

Gary has many outside interests including photography, bicycling, theater, film, and ethnic dining. His specialty of collecting historic recordings has recently gone “international,” as he has begun engineering disc-to-digital tape transfers of recordings from his collection for Biddulph Records in England. He has always enjoyed international travel and is especially fond of tours with the CSO.