About Hans Sturm
Double bassist Hans Sturm has performed as soloist, chamber, orchestral, jazz and improvisational musician throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and the United States. He currently holds the positions of Professor and Chair of the String Department at Ball State University and President-Elect of the International Society of Bassists.
Hans has appeared with a variety of artists across the spectrum of jazz music including Jackie Allen, Eddie Daniels, Phil Woods, Randy Brecker, Dick Hyman, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Eddie Higgins, David Baker, Stanley Jordan, Peter Erskine, Joe LaBarbera, Alan Dawson, Bela Fleck, Howard Levy and many others. A frequent performer of chamber music, Sturm has toured with ‘Fireflight’ (soprano, Japanese koto and bass koto, double bass, and percussion) and ‘Trinkle, Burkett, and Sturm’ (trumpet, marimba and double bass) for more than fifteen years. He has worked in the electronic medium with composers such as Cleveland Scott and Joan Wildman. As an orchestral bassist, he has served as principal bassist of numerous regional orchestras including the Muncie Symphony, Quad Cities Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Madison Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Dorian Opera, Rockford Symphony, and Racine Symphony and toured Europe as a member of the American Sinfonietta Chamber Orchestra.
Recently Hans Sturm has appeared at the Beijing Music Festival; the Association of Brazilian Contrabassists International Conventions in Goiania and Pirenopolus, Brazil; the Scottish Bass Trust’s International Convention and the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh Scotland; the College Music Society International Conference in Kyoto, Japan; Encontro de instrumentistas in Joao Pessoa and Belo Horizonte, Brazil; the Biennial International Symposium on Arts and Technology in New London, Connecticut; a State Department tour of Morocco; various International Society of Bassists Conventions in Bloomington, Houston, Indianapolis, Iowa City, Richmond, Kalamazoo; and jazz festivals in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, Washington D.C., Detroit, Madison, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis.
Sturm has contributed performances and compositions to more than fifty recordings with artists including the Pro Arte String Quartet, soprano Mimmi Fulmer, vocalist Jackie Allen, synthesist/composer Joan Wildman, guitarists Scott Fields, Rolf Sturm, Dave Baney, Jeff Parker, and Jack Grassel, trumpeters Bob Levy and David Young, and pianists Jane Reynolds, and Marilyn Crispell. He has recorded for Blue Note, A440, Innova, Red Mark, Music and Arts, CRI, Big Chicago, and Cadence labels among others.
In part stemming from his reputation for balanced reporting as New Music Editor and reviewer for the International Society of Bassist’s journal ‘Bass World’ for six years, Hans was chosen to serve on the three-person jury for three consecutive ISB Composition Competitions. He has also served on juries for the prestigious ISB Solo Competition (2005), two Brazilian Bassists Composition Competitions, and countless state orchestral, solo, and jazz competitions in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
His major teachers have included jazz virtuoso and University of Wisconsin Professor Richard Davis, Northwestern University Professor Jeff Bradetich, Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Bass Emeritus Anthony Bianco, Philadelphia Orchestra bassist Ferdinand Maresh, and international soloist and pedagogue François Rabbath.
