Mark MORTON

Mark Morton is Associate Professor of Double Bass at Texas Tech University. For 23 years, he was a member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in Ohio—14 as principal bass and 9 as assistant bass. Winner of first prize in the 1990 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition in New York City, he is the author of the acclaimed "Dr. Morton" series of books on double bass technique and numerous articles in leading journals.

 

A very active broadcaster and concert artist, Morton has performed as a soloist throughout Europe, South America, Canada, and of course, the United States. He has also been a guest on radio for programs such as "Performance Today" on NPR, WGBH in Boston, and WQXR in New York. His critically acclaimed CDs "Thresholds" and "Russian Rendezvous" are the first two in a series of CDs devoted to standard double bass repertoire. He also shares a CD with world-renowned bassist Gary Karr, devoted to the solo double bass music of Paul Ramsier. It was with this CD that Roger Dettmer of Classical CD Reviews called him "the most artistic representative of the new generation born in the last half-century."

An orchestral musician, Morton has performed under numerous conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel, Alexander Schneider, Pinchas Zuckerman, Hans Graf, Gunther Herbig, Vladimir Spivakov, John Williams, Henry Mancini, and Mitch Miller. He has appeared twice as guest principal bass with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, under the musical direction of Pinchas Zuckerman.

 

Mark Morton is an accomplished pianist, having performed as a piano concerto soloist with several orchestras, including the Houston Symphony Orchestra. His recent album, Bottesini Greatest Hits, released on Albany Records, features Morton accompanying himself on the piano. American Record Review concluded, "Mark Morton is an excellent player on both instruments, and the music is magnificent..." Fanfare commented, "His intonation is spot on, and he has a firm grasp of the bravura passages."

While in Ohio, Dr. Morton taught double bass at Capital University and Ohio Wesleyan University, and was an adjunct professor of double bass for Gary Karr at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. During the summer, he teaches and performs with the Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal, and Vancouver symphony orchestras at PRISMA in Powell River, British Columbia. He has given numerous masterclasses, including at Yale, the University of Iowa, and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.