26: Jeff Turner Interview - a podcast by Jason Heath

It is my pleasure to bring you this great interview with Pittsburgh Symphony principal bassist Jeff Turner for this week's episode of Contrabass Conversations. Jeff has excellent advice for musicians, and he reflects on his early years on the instrument in this very engaging interview. You will also be hearing a double bass feature from the Lascivious Biddies on this episode. Enjoy!

About Jeff

Jeffrey Turner is the Director of Orchestral Studies at Duquesne University, where he serves as conductor of the Duquesne Symphony Orchestra. A native of South Carolina, Mr. Turner holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master's degree in conducting from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied with Dr. Robert Page. He has served in recent years as Music Director of the Pittsburgh Live Chamber Orchestra, and Artistic Director of the City Music Center Chamber Orchestra from 2004 - 2009.  Locally, Mr. Turner has also conducted opera productions at CMU, as well as Honors Orchestra Festivals for the Pennsylvania Music Educator's Association. 

Mr. Turner is also the Principal Bassist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. His teachers include James VanDemark, Lawrence Hurst and Robert Gladstone. Before joining the PSO in 1987, Mr. Turner was the Principal Bass of the New American Chamber Orchestra from 1984 to 1986, and played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for the 1986-87 season. As winner of the Y Music Society's Passamaneck Award, Jeffrey Turner appeared in a critically acclaimed recital at Carnegie Music Hall in 1989.  He was also a winner of the 1990 Pittsburgh Concert Society's Artist Award.

Jeffrey Turner has served as Visiting Professor at the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, and the University of Maryland, and as a faculty member of Carnegie Mellon University. At Duquesne, Mr. Turner has also served as Chair of Strings and as Artistic Director of City Music Center's Young Bassist Program.

Mr. Turner gives annual recitals, seminars, and master classes at universities and conservatories throughout the world, and serves as resident artist for annual festivals including the Pacific Music Festival, The National Orchestral Institute, the Korsholm Festival (Finland), Indiana University's Summer Music Festival, and The Asian Youth Orchestra (Hong Kong).  Mr. Turner has been a faculty member for International Workshops in Graz, Austria; Lausanne, Switzerland; and Glasgow, Scotland. He is featured as recitalist, clinician, and competition judge at the conventions of The International Society of Bassists. From 1988-92 Mr. Turner was the Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Project, a yearly series of concerts and educational programs featuring Pittsburgh's finest musicians in collaboration.

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