About Us
Gaelen McCormick, bass
Gaelen McCormick began playing the bass in middle school. She studied with the principal bassist of the Albany Symphony, David Scott Allen, and was active in the Empire State Youth Orchestra and several local music clubs throughout her high school years. Before college, she had already attended Chautauqua Music Institute and Tanglewood Institute in the summer. She was inspired by the great musicians she met there to make performing her career. She attended the Eastman School for her undergraduate degree, where she studied with James VanDemark. During college, she spent her summers at the Kent/Blossom chamber music festival, where she was the only bassist in the program, and at the Heidelberg Schlossfestspiele in Germany performing opera under the open sky in a 15th century castle. Gaelen has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic’s bass section since 1995. Before joining the RPO, she held positions with regional orchestras such as the Erie (PA) Philharmonic, the Binghamton Philharmonic and the Albany Symphony. She recently became a founding member of the Pittsburgh Live Music Chamber Orchestra and performed with them during their inaugural season.
Ms. McCormick performs regularly with other major orchestras, including the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Syracuse Symphony. Teaching the double bass to students of all ages has become a significant part of Gaelen’s life. She has been the bass instructor for the Eastman Community Music School since 2001. She enjoys working with talented high school aged string players in the summer at Eastman’s Music Horizons program where she teaches chamber music and gives bass lessons. In 2003, she was invited to teach for the year at Duquesne University’s City Music Center, a program for talented, pre-college students. Gaelen is a member of the faculty of Roberts Wesleyan College. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Bass Performance and Literature from the Eastman School and Master’s Degree in Bass Performance from Carnegie Mellon University.
Playing chamber music has been a passion for Ms. McCormick. Before moving to Rochester, she often performed with the St. Cecilia Chamber Orchestra (Albany, NY) as their sole bassist. In recent summers, she has been performing with the Music in the Mountains chamber orchestra, a festival based in Durango, Colorado. She is frequently invited to play chamber music with musicians from around the country in festivals such as the Roycroft Chamber Music Festival and the Syracuse New Music Ensemble. Ms. McCormick has been a member of Quartsemble for three years and a member of the RPO’s Education Quintet since 2000, where she enjoys performing in Rochester City Schools for elementary students as their introduction to string instruments. Gaelen is eagerly awaiting the publication of a bowing method she has edited, based on the violin studies of Franz Wohlfahrt, and has recently commissioned a new work for string trio from the composer Judd Greenstein. In her spare time, Gaelen enjoys kayaking and Irish set dancing.