Jack Unzicker

Double Bassist

Performance

I perform in a wide range of ensembles and styles, from early music to contemporary, solo, chamber music, orchestral, jazz and electric bass.  I perform frequently with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, and Dallas Opera, and as the Principal Double Bassist of the Dallas Chamber Symphony, Caminos Del Inka, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and Plano Symphony Orchestra.  I maintain an active schedule, around 75 performances per year.

The Diaries of Adam and Eve was released by Albany Records and is the first recording of an ongoing duo project in collaboration with Dr. Martha Walvoord, UT Arlington violin professor. We collaborate with contemporary composers to commission, perform, and record new works for violin and double bass. Composers include six-time Grammy-award winner Michael Daugherty, Andrea Clearfield, Tom Knific, George Chave, and Daniel M. Cavanagh. The duo performed this new repertoire at the International Society of Bassists 2017 Convention in Ithaca, NY on June 10, 2017. In 2018, I performed Bottesini’s Concerto No. 2 with Gary Lewis and the Midland-Odessa Symphony and Chorale. And in 2016, I was a featured soloist with the Dallas Chamber Symphony, performing my transcription of Hindemith’s Trauermusik. In 2021, I have several performances of Nino Rota’s Divertimento Concertante, with the Holland Symphony Orchestra and the University of Texas at Arlington Symphony Orchestra.

My recent chamber music performances include the Adams Chamber Symphony, Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, 2, 3, & 6, Beethoven Septet, Bruch Octet, Ginastera Variaciones Concertantes, Labor Quintet, Prokofiev Quintet, Stravinsky L’Histoire du soldat, and Brahms Sextet in B-flat Major, Svendsen Octet, and Schubert Octet with members of the Dallas Symphony, Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, and professors from Rice University and the University of North Texas.

As an orchestral musician, I have performed as principal of the AIMS Festival Orchestra (Austria), American Baroque Opera, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Divertimento (Costa Rica), Plano Symphony Orchestra, among many others, and as a section player with the Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Dallas Opera, Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Opera, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Holland Symphony, Waco Symphony, and I have worked extensively with conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya, as well as Jaap Van Zweden, Fabio Luisi, Otto Werner-Mueller, Larry Rachleff, Rossen Milanov, James Conlon, Anshel Brusilow, and Gunther Schuller.

Teaching 

At The University of Texas at Arlington, I serve as Associate Professor of Double Bass.  The UT Arlington double bass studio includes private lessons, solo and technique classes, orchestral excerpts, and ensembles.  I have also taught a variety of courses, including Chamber Music, String Music Education, Music in Film, Ear-Training and Sight-Singing, Music History, Music Literature, and Music Appreciation. 

My studio contains a diverse range of students, graduate, undergraduate, and high school students with a variety of interests and majors, including performance, music education, jazz studies, composition, music theory, and music industry studies. My students have been accepted into prestigious schools and summer programs, such as the Colburn Institute, Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, University of Southern California, Boston University, Indiana University, University of North Texas, Indiana University, New World Symphony, Aspen Music Festival and School, Domaine Forget, Curtis Institute of Music Summerfest, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Florida State University, DePaul University, University of Texas, North Carolina School of the Arts, University of Houston, National Orchestral Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, Interlochen Arts Camp, Round Top Music Festival, Texas Chamber Music Institute, and the WaBass Institute.

As a pedagogue, I serve on the board of the Bradetich Foundation, a double bass performance and education organization, and as the Solo Competition Chair of the American String Teacher Association - Texas. I have previously served as the Bass Forum Editor for the journal American String Teacher. I have been featured in articles on playing and teaching the double bass in The Strad, Bass World, American String Teacher, and Strings Magazine. And, I frequently perform, adjudicate, and present at the International Society of Bassists, American String Teachers Association, and Texas Music Educators Association Conventions.  In the summers, I perform and teach as Artist Faculty and as the Assistant Director of the Annual Bradetich Double Bass Master Classes.