All About That Bass | Panel Discussion Jordan Frazier, Donald Palma & special guest Orin O’Brien

Jordan Frazier, bass, has performed, recorded and toured worldwide with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra since 1993 and was appointed a member of the orchestra in 2006. He is a former member of the L’Orchestra Ciudad de Barcelona and currently is a member of the American Composers Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra and Principal Bass of the Westchester Philharmonic and Bard Festival Orchestra.

In addition, he has performed as principal bass with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati Symphonies, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, NYC Opera, NYC Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Mark Morris Dance Company among others. Equally at home playing period music, he has performed and recorded with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, both in Toronto and at the Klang und Raum Festival in Bavaria. Jordan is also Principal Bass of the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra, in Carmel, CA, where he has performed in the summer since 1996.

Bassist Orin O’Brien has been a member of the New York Philharmonic since 1966, when Leonard Bernstein was the Music Director. Born in Hollywood of actor parents, she received her early musical training in Los Angeles. She studied with Milton Kestenbaum (principal bass of the Pittsburgh Symphony under Fritz Reiner and member of the NBC Symphony under Toscanini), Herman Reinshagen (for many years associate principal of the New York Philharmonic during the time of Mahler and Toscanini, and double bass teacher at the Institute of Musical Art, later to be Juilliard), and continued her studies in New York with Frederick Zimmermann, graduating as a scholarship student from the Juilliard School.

Before joining the New York Philharmonic she was a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra (1956 to 1966) and during that time also performed with Stokowski’s American Symphony Orchestra (including solo bass in first U.S. performances of Ginastera’s Variations Concertantes), the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Musica Aeterna, and many other musical organizations.

She has played with the world’s leading conductors and in numerous chamber music festivals, including the Marlboro Music Festival recordings with Pablo Casals.

Born in New York City, Donald Palma is a graduate of the Juilliard School. Don studied double bass with Frederick Zimmermann, Robert Brennand, Orin O’Brien, and Homer Mensch. A former member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he has also been Principal Bass of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the American Composers Orchestra.

He is a founding member of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with which he has toured the world and recorded over fifty compact discs for Deutsche Grammophon including a Grammy Award winning recording of Stravinsky works.

Palma has performed with the Juilliard Quartet, the Nash Ensemble, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Da Camera Society of Houston, the Borromeo Quartet, Bridgehampton Chamber Music, Mistral and in recital with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jean-Pierre Rampal, and Jan DeGaetani. He was music director of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and is currently music director of the Symphony-by-the-Sea in Marblehead, MA and the NEC Chamber Orchestra.