Pete Walsh is a double bass player and educator based in Boston, MA. He enjoys a vibrant, musically diverse career that consists of orchestral work, historical performance, chamber music, jazz and electric bass, and everything in between.
As an orchestral musician he has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Boston Lyric Opera, Odyssey Opera, Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Pete is Principal Bass of the Boston Festival Orchestra and New Bedford Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Principal Bass of the Cape Cod Symphony, where he also plays electric bass. He was also a section member of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra for many years.
Pete is particularly passionate about chamber music and small ensemble playing and is Principal Bass with the Boston based ‘Phoenix’ Chamber Orchestra and Principal Guest Artist with Juventas New Music Ensemble. As a guest artist he has appeared with A Far Cry, the Boston Symphony Double Bass Section, Walden Chamber Players, Fine Arts Quartet, Harvard Musical Association, Lake George Music Festival, Unitas Ensemble, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra.
Pete also enjoys performing and studying historical performance practices. He has performed with the Handel and Haydn Society, Connecticut Early Music Society, Emmanuel Music, and Marsh Chapel Collegium.
Pete was a summer musician for three years at Yellow Barn, an intensive international chamber music festival in Vermont where he performed alongside musicians from prominent chamber ensembles. Pete has also been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany and on tour in China, National Orchestral Institute, and Round Top Music Festival.
As an educator Pete currently maintains a private studio. He has also coached the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra’s bass section and taught through the Wellesley Public School system, Harvard University’s Music Lesson Program, and the Boston Philharmonic’s Crescendo! program.
Originally from Dallas, Texas, Pete was initially drawn to the bass by listening to great jazz bass players. He began playing electric bass at age 10 and shortly after joined his middle school orchestra program on double bass. Institutions such as the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra fostered a love for classical music. He also spent formative summers at the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. While in Dallas he studied with Clifford Spohr of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Jeff Bradetich of the University of North Texas.
He received both his B.M. and M.M. at Boston University studying with Benjamin Levy and Edwin Barker, respectively, of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He additionally studied historical performance with Heather Miller-Lardin, Principal Bass of the Handel and Haydn Society.
Pete performs on two instruments, a modern double bass by American luthier Arnold Schnitzer made in 2015 and double bass made in southern Germany around 1870 with a distinctive carved lion head scroll. His bow is by Zdzislaw Prochownik.