Our first modern 5-string bass was commissioned by Jessica Powell Eig after she returned from a European festival where she used a fiver. It was again based on our Maggini design, since the original also had five (or six!) strings.
A highly important publication, The English Double Bass Book, featuring photographs and biographies of eighty basses and forty makers, respectively, needed our services in 2017 for one of its entries. A John Betts instrument owned by Charles Nilles needed meticulous cleaning in preparation for a photo session with highly exacting specifications. Our favorite “National Geographic” pro and friend Ken Garrett spent a day making sure this submission met their standards.
After his Tafelmusik debut in 2013 was a huge hit, Kris Bezuidenhout returned for another week as fortepiano soloist and orchestra director. Having recorded all the Mozart solo piano works on the fortepiano by now, he was increasingly in demand internationally as a conductor, which he often did from the keyboard. The week ended with an extra runout concert from Toronto to Kingston to inaugurate a new hall. Barbara had to go early to prep the piano, but coming back, she rode on the bus with the musicians. The lengthy trip was enhanced by an elaborate martini kit brought in a cooler by the principal violist, who knew that Kris liked nothing better than a martini after a concert. A few of us lucky ones sat in the back and completely consumed his supply.
As often happened, a week of recording starting the day after New Year’s in the Duke University chapel (great acoustics!) was organized by harpsichordist Elaine Funaro. Among her many roles in the harpsichord universe, she was a great performer and promoter of new compositions for the instrument. And her Italian heritage made the title of this program for multiple keyboards a no-brainer. For another recording at the end of January, there was only one harpsichord for Barbara to deal with, but five gamba players with twice as many instruments made the session memorable!
