Skip to main content

Stephen Tramontozzi Interview

Interview Date: June 8 and 9, 2016
Conservatory Affiliation: Double Bass Faculty
Interviewer: Tessa Updike

Stephen Tramontozzi, assistant principal double bass of the San Francisco Symphony, studied with Robert Olson of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Oscar Zimmerman at the Eastman School of Music. He held the position of principal bass of the Symphony Orchestra of Sao Paolo, Brazil and has also performed with the Chamber Music West Festival, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival and the Cabrillo Music Festival. Formerly on the faculties of Stanford University and the Universities of California at Berkeley and Santa Cruz, Tramontozzi currently serves on the faculties of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Mills College. He has been called upon to present clinics and master classes for the Hammond Ashley Double Bass Symposium, Indiana University, University of Michigan, University of Texas, New England Conservatory, New World Symphony, Pacific Music Festival and the Asian Youth Orchestra. Engagements as a recitalist have taken him to Japan, Washington and throughout California. He received a B.M. from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Lawrence Wolfe, and an M.M. from the Conservatory.

Read Interview

Topics

Early years
Accordion lessons
John Barwicki
Oscar Zimmerman
Lawrence Wolfe
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Studying at the Conservatory
Joining the faculty at the Conservatory
Double bass repertoire
Teaching and students
Double bass program at the Conservatory
Memories of conductors
Recordings
Instrumentalists and ensembles
Advice to young musicians

Audio

Parents

Early teachers

Sao Paulo

Lou Harrison

Double bass repertoire

Bach transcriptions

Oral history interviews are a method of collecting historical information from a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events. These interviews are primary materials, and by nature reflect the personal opinion of the narrators. As with any primary resource, these interviews are not to be viewed as the final and definitive source for any subject.

All literary rights to audio and manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to archives@sfcm.edu.