Nicholas Schwartz, double bass (USA – Netherlands)
Nicholas Santangelo Schwartz has distinguished himself as one of the best bassists on the international concert stage. He is a laureate of multiple international competitions, including being the youngest winner ever of the International Society of Bassists Solo Competition and commission prize. He was also the first double bassist to win (in an unanimous vote) the Stulberg International String Competition and its Bach Festival Society Award in its 43 year history.
In 2013, Nicholas became a tenured bassist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, widely known as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. He formerly played with the Berlin Philharmonic as a member of the Karajan Akademie, and in the USA with the Boston Symphony and Pops orchestras. In addition to being a long time member of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, he was guest artist at multiple international chamber music festivals in Holland, Germany, Norway, Belarus, Italy and Brasil, with such artists as Kirill Troussov, Anna Fedorova, Maximilian Hornung, Linus Roth, Eldbjørg Hemsing, Benedict Kloekner, Janusz Wawrowski, Alexei Ogrintchouk, and Olivier Patey. With world renowned concert pianist, Anna Fedorova he has formed the “Oyster Duo”, performing across Europe, Ukraine and the US to promote the double bass as a solo instrument.
In addition to being a world class bassist, Nicholas is also active cellist. He is the only performer who plays at an artistic level on both instruments. He has performed on three continents with top artists such as Daniel Rowland, Anna Fedorova, Linus Roth, Benedict Kloeckner and is heard often in concerts on both the double bass and cello.
In addition to his numerous concert performances, Nicholas enjoys teaching privately and giving master classes. He is a mentor in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s Academy program, working one-on-one both on and off stage. He has coached student orchestras of Spain, Greece, Holland, Brasil and the USA and was bass teacher at the Marc O’Connor fiddle camp at Berklee College of Music. He has teacher certification in the O’Connor violin method, adapted to the double bass.
In other musical genres, Nicholas feels equally at home on the band stand. As a jazz bassist he won his first international competition at Carnegie Hall at the age of 15 with the “Midday Jazz Quartet”, receiving the Grand Prize in the Chamber Music Foundation of New England International Chamber Music Competition. He shared the stage with distinguished artists such as Mark O’Connor and Russell Malone and Clark Terry.
Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts (USA) Nicholas resides in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In his younger years, Nicholas was a dedicated and competitive skateboarder, having been twice the 15 and under champion of Boston. He then completed a Bachelors Degree of Fine Arts at Boston University, where he received the Zulalian Foundation Award. His teachers include Edwin Barker (Boston Symphony principal double bassist) and Matthew Mcdonald (solo bassist of the Berlin Philharmonic) as Karajan Akademist in 2012-13.
Nicholas plays a cello by Amati Mangenot (1930, Bordeaux) and a double bass by Gaetano Antoniazzi (1872, Milan). He is a sponsored artist of Pirastro strings.