He is a double bassist born in Brooklyn, New York who studied at the Juilliard School with Fred Zimmerman who was at the time played bass with the New York Philharmonic.
After graduating he became Principal Bass with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1950 and remained with them for the next decade under the conductorship of Walter Hendl and later Paul Kletzki.
After Walter Hendl had been appointed as Associate Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1958 he recommended Joseph to their music director Fritz Reiner. This led to him being appointed as Principal Bass in 1961 and remaining with the orchestra for 49 years, working with five music directors, until his retirement in 2010. The orchestra commissioned the concerto First Bassman by Elias Tanenbaum which Joseph performed the premiere of in 1996.
As a chamber musician he performed at several music festivals and with ensembles that include Chicago Po Musica, Emerson Quartet, Juilliard Quartet, now Ravinia Institute Players, Music of the Baroque, New York Wind Quartet and Vermeer Quartet.
Recordings he has performed on include Igor Stravinsky/Rimsky-Korsakov and The Medinah Sessions by Chicago Pro Musica, Haydn: La Creation, In Concert with Boehringer Mannheim, Sacred Arias: Bach & Mozart, Corigliano: Symphony No. 1, Wagner: Overtures and Preludes, Brahms: Violin Concerto/Sonata No. 3, J.S. Bach: Messe in H-Moll, Richard Strauss: Wind Concertos and Georg Solti: The Complete Recordings by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Dells Sing Dionne Warwicke’s Greatest Hits by The Dells, Music from Ravinia Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 by James Levine, Romantico by Lucien, A Fresh Aire Christmas and Christmas Celebration by Mannheim Steamroller, All My Reasons by Noel Pointer, I Love Life by Bill Rollins,
In the field of musical education he has held many master classes and been a faculty member of Northwestern University and been a respected teacher of many double bass students.
After his retirement he moved to Minnesota and was involved in a lawsuit against his children regarding the ownership of two valuable double basses he had bought early in his career in the late 1940s.
Also in Minnesota he was a director of the project Basshenge: A new monument to music.
He performs here…
Sources:
- https://www.stokowski.org/Principal_Musicians_Chicago_Symphony.htm#Bass_Index_Point
- https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-cso-ex-bassist-joseph-guastafeste-sues-family-20170808-story.html
- https://doublebassblog.org/2008/03/joe-guastefeste-master-class-at-northwestern-university.html
- https://www.brainerddispatch.com/3398675-basshenge-new-monument-music-northern-minnesota
- https://viewfromhere.typepad.com/the_view_from_here/2010/10/cso-and-muti-mozart-and-haydn-in-g-minor-and-later-in-major-in-the-1780s.html
- https://www.thestrad.com/chicago-symphony-orchestra-bassist-retires-after-49-years/1522.article
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/1591757-Joseph-Guastafeste