The Florida Orchestra

James Bass
Music and Artistic Director

Dr. James K. Bass, Grammy nominated singer and conductor, is the Director of Choral Studies in the School of Music at the University of South Florida and the Artistic Director of The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. At USF he conducts the University Chamber Singers, Collegium and the Collegiate Singers, in addition to teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in choral conducting, philosophy, and literature. Previously he was on the faculty at Western Michigan University and the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Bass received the doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Miami–Florida, where he was a doctoral fellow, master of music and bachelor of science degrees from the University of South Florida and is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy.

Bass was selected by the master conductor of the Amsterdam Baroque Soloists, Ton Koopman, to be one of only 20 singers for a presentation of Cantatas by J.S. Bach in Carnegie Hall, and was an auditioned member of Robert Shaw’s workshop choir at Carnegie. He is one of 13 singers on the Grammy nominated disc A Seraphic Fire Christmas. Dr. Bass is an active bass soloist and has performed at Winchester Cathedral in London, has sung three world-premieres of large works, and appears on CD recordings on the Albany and Seraphic Fire Media label. He has appeared with the New World Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas, The Florida Orchestra, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Back Bay Chorale and Orchestra and the Firebird Chamber orchestra as bass soloist.

Bass is a bass member and chorus master for Seraphic Fire, the Miami-based professional choir, and was appointed choirmaster for the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. During the summer of 2011, he co-founded the Professional Choral Institute at the University of South Florida. In its inaugural year of recording, Seraphic Fire and PCI received the Grammy nomination for Best Choral Performance  for their recording of Johannes Brahms' Ein Deuthches Requiem. He has prepared choirs for Sir Colin Davis, Sir David Willcocks, Jahja Ling, Michael Tilson Thomas,  Stefan Sanderling, Markus Huber and Robert Shaw. He has served on the Executive Board of the American Choral Directors Association Central Division as College Repertoire and Standards chairperson. His professional affiliations include the American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, American Symphony Orchestra League, Pi Kappa Lambda national music honor society, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity.

Back to list