George Speed, Double Bass
Bassist George Speed enjoys a career that combines teaching with solo, chamber, and orchestral performing. He is Assistant Professor of Double Bass at Oklahoma State University and Principal Bass of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
In the orchestral sphere, Mr. Speed has performed with some of the world’s most esteemed conductors, including Seiji Ozawa, Claudio Abbado, David Robertson, James Levine, Sergiu Commissiona, Andrew Litton, Pierre Boulez, Hans Graf, Christopher Hogwood, Andre Previn, and Rafael Frubeck de Burgos. From 2001 to 2003 Speed held a tenured position with the now-defunct Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, based in Fort Lauderdale. In 2005 he was appointed Principal Bass with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, with which he performed close to 30 concerts last year. Since 1999 Mr. Speed has performed regularly with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, including 23 domestic and 3 international tours, and nationally televised performances at Super Bowl XXXVI and for 10 Independence Day concerts. He has also been a substitute player with the Boston Symphony since 2000. Additional orchestral experience includes: Boston Classical Orchestra, New England String Ensemble, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, Fort Worth Symphony, and Tulsa Symphony.
As a soloist, Mr. Speed won the Jackson (TN) Symphony Concerto Competition, the Vanderbilt Concerto Competition, and the SC All-State Concerto Competition. As part of the 1998 Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, he was a featured performer for Composer-in-Residence Henri Dutilleux’s chamber work Les Citations. In 1999, the Pierre Boulez Workshop at Carnegie Hall selected Mr. Speed to participate in a performance of Schoenberg’s Kammersymphonie, Op. 9 in Weill Recital Hall under Maestro Boulez. He also performs regularly with the Oklahoma City-based chamber ensemble Brightmusic.
A devoted educator, Mr. Speed received the 2009 Wise-Diggs-Berry Award for Teaching Excellence in the Arts at Oklahoma State University. He is particularly committed to the advancement of double bass playing in Oklahoma and has presented clinics around the state, including high schools in Stillwater, Norman, Oklahoma City, Edmond, Bartlesville, Enid, Ponca City, and Tulsa. In 2005 Mr. Speed joined with OU bass instructor Mark Osborn to present the first Oklahoma Bass Bash, a summer clinic for Oklahoma pre-college bassists. The Bass Bash (www.okbassbash.com), now in its sixth year, continues to be a collaborative effort between OSU and OU, with the location of the camp alternating between Stillwater and Norman. The enormously successful 2010 Bass Bash, held in Stillwater, brought over 30 students and 6 faculty members to the OSU campus.
A native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, Mr. Speed earned his Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, from Vanderbilt University and his Master of Music degree from Boston University. Additional studies include two summers at both the Aspen Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Center, where in 1999 he received the Rose Thomas Smith Legacy Prize. His principal teachers have been Edwin Barker, Edgar Meyer, and William Scott. Mr. Speed plays on a late 19th century Neapolitan bass by Carlo Loveri.
