Austrian (Unknown Maker)

This double bass was made in Vienna, probably c1860. These are nice instruments, but so many were made and they never seem to be signed, so we really don't know who made them. As you can see, it is viol shaped with a flat back. The wood used never seems to be of the best grade, though in this case it is a fine pine table with maple back and ribs. The sound though is good, in fact good enough to warrant inclusion in these customer and instrument pages. It is good that a fine player such as Shuji Idehara trusts his judgment and spends the money to buy a bass such as this. The sound is big and warm, and really good enough to suit any orchestra.

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Shuji Idehara

Shuji Idehara was born in Yokohama City, Japan in 1965. He always had a love of music and was lucky enough to receive lessons even as a very young boy from Yasushi Miyake, who was the principal double bass of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. In 1986, he won a scholarship to the Osaka College of Music, and was fortunate  to be getting bass lessons from Masahiro Nishide, then principal double bass of the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, then with Kazuo Okuda, the principal bassist of the Osaka Century Orchestra. In this period at college he also studied chamber music with the guest professor Gunter Klaus. Later on Shuji was most influenced by his friend and mentor Takehisa Aiba, the principal double bass of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Shuji made his solo debut with a bass recital at the Aqua Hall in Osaka in 1995. This was greeted with great enthusiasm, and he got a fine write up in the very prestigious magazine "Ongakunotomo" in Japan. Shuji joined the bass section of the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra and worked with them from 1990 to 1997. In 1998 he joined the fine bass section of the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra. But you can also find Shuji Idehara playing guest principal bass with the Osaka Symphoniker. In the picture on the left you can see Shuji with his lovely wife Miho Idehara, who is a very fine cellist.

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