Orleans, James (1952-Present)

He is a double bass player born in Newark, New Jersey.

When he was young he began playing and studying the trumpet and continued with this for 9 years. However, as he moved out of his teenage years he became more and more drawn by jazz and decided to change from the trumpet to the double bass.

He took studies double bass and composition at Indiana University followed by Boston Conservatory of Music, where he graduated from in 1981. This was followed by him receiving 1981 and 1982 fellowships at the Tanglewood Music Center.

In 1982 he became a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the following year he moved to a position at the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

During the course of his career he has given performances and recorded with several ensembles including Boston Musica Viva, Boston Chamber Music Society, Brandeis Contemporary Chamber Players, College New Music and Dinosaur Annex.

He is also a member of the Boston based A Far Cry, which is a self-conducted orchestra of 17 professional musicians known as “Criers” established in 2007.

In the recording studio he has performed on albums such as America, Holiday Pops, The Latin Album, My Favorite Things: A Richard Rodgers Celebration, A Splash of Pops, Critical Models – Chamber Music of Mohammed Farouz with the Lydian String Quartet and Where Silence Reignsand Barker: TrikHyalo etc with the Griffin Music Ensemble.

He has worked for the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Symphony Orchestra League and the American Composer Orchestra as an advisory panellist.

As a writer he has contributed articles that concentrate on orchestral music programming in the 20^th Century.

In the field of musical education he has been on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music and a teaching associate at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.

Sources:

Orleans, James (1952-Present)

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