Michael Martin, Bass

Michael Martin is a double bassist and teaching artist based in Evanston, Illinois, and was appointed Principal Bass of Chicago Sinfonietta in 2024. He regularly appears with orchestras across the country, including the Milwaukee Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Sphinx Virtuosi, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Formerly, he was a fellow with the Chautauqua Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and the New World Symphony for three seasons. He holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from Northwestern University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music in double bass performance. He lives in Evanston with his wife Rose, their beloved tuxedo cat named “Tofu”, and an ever-expanding collection of houseplants.

In early high school, Michael began his study of the double bass with Suzuki teacher Domenick Fiore, and quickly discovered a deep love of the double bass in all its musical capacities. He has since studied with a number of mentors and professors who have shaped his artistic development, including Joseph Conyers, Tracy Rowell, Andrew Raciti, and Alexander Hanna. Throughout his undergraduate and graduate degrees, Michael developed a passion for string pedagogy, and is currently on faculty at Bass Works Maryland during the summer and maintains a growing private studio at home. As part of his graduate degree, he studied string pedagogy with cellists Hans Jørgen Jensen and Cornelia Watkins-Dyer, whose seminal insights on the art and science of string playing continue to inform his approach to the double bass.

He can be heard on the album Songtree performing the music of Ricardo Zohn Muldoon alongside faculty of the Eastman School in the Zohn Collective. Michael is also the creator of Black Reflections, a three-part panel discussion series on racial justice in music, featuring Black luminaries of classical music and jazz such as Chi-chi Nwanoku, Christian McBride, and Dr. Tammy Kernodle. Michael plays a modern instrument made for him in 2019 by Christopher Savino, and a bow by celebrated French bowmaker Jean Grunberger.