MICHAEL WOLF
double bass
Michael Wolf is professor for double bass at the University of the Arts Berlin. He was born in New Jersey, USA, and began studying the doublebass at the age of nine. When he was thirteen years old, he made his first television appearance as a soloist. He completed his first degree with honours in the biological sciences at the University of Southern California, where he worked and published in the field of cancer research (see below)..
Afterwards, he studied music at the California State University with Nathaniel Gangursky and became a member of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. He received a Fulbright/DAAD and a Rotary- International scholarship, which brought him to Germany. He was appointed with a full, tenured professorship for doublebass at the faculty of the University of Mainz before assuming his position in Berlin.
Besides his position in Berlin, Wolf has held a professorship for double bass in Ireland at the University of Limerick and a guest professorship at the Korean National University of the Arts in Seoul, Korea. In addition, he has presented masterclasses and appeared as a soloist on five continents. His students have continued on to become double bass professors and members of many of the major orchestras of the world.
His publications include a doublebass method (Schott Publishers, 2007). He hosted the double bass symposium, Bass 2010, in Berlin, which was attended by nearly a thousand visitors. His radio and solo record-album recordings as well as his concert appearances both domestically and abroad have consistently received the highest critical acclaim.
Reviews
"Michael Wolf is a master of his instrument."
Fono Forum (Reveiw of solo album)
"Graceful, lyrical, cantabile and charming... an extraordinary, delightful evening."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"High spirited virtuosity... with sheer feline agility...(he) produced tones of stupendous beauty."
Die Rheinpfalz
"...sorcery in the style of the 'devil's violinist'!"
Solinger Tageblatt
"...truly a sensation."
Rheinische Post
"...magnificent technical bravura."
Deutsche Zeitung, Sao Paulo, Brazil
"...an extraordinarily exuberant, diverse, sensitive, expressive and polished performance. In one word, brilliant!"
Südkurier (1988)
"The virtuoustic acrobatics of the artist were breathtaking...It bordered on sorcery. The doublebass and Michael Wolf melted together into a single musical entity. The public went wild."
Kappeln
"...a Paganini of the doublebass"
Südkurier
"(His) superior technique and unimposing virtuoustic presence made this concert one of the most beautiful and most intensive of this concert-series."
Neue Ruhr-Zeitung
"The American presented his program with musical charm, a virtuousity encompassing all facets of the doublebass and a portion of humor... From the neck down to the bridge, the possibilities and (imagined) impossiblities of doublebass technique were displayed in a breathtaking, virtuoustic-joking manner."
Rhein Main Presse