Brian Perry

Brian Perry joined the bass section of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2013. Prior to joining the DSO, he was a member of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra for nine seasons. He has appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra, and often performs with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. An active collaborator, Perry is a frequent guest artist with pianist Buddy Bray for The Cliburn’s Musical Awakenings educational concert series and has performed locally on the Fort Worth Chamber Music Society, Spectrum Chamber Music, Mozart in the Bar, Fine Arts Chamber Players and Cliburn at the Modern series. Additionally, he has appeared as guest artist with the Vermeer String Quartet and pianist Natalie Zhu on the Bay Chamber Concerts series in Rockport, Maine. He previously served as the bassist in Miguel Harth-Bedoya’s Caminos del Inka ensemble for appearances at the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene, Oregon. More recently he has appeared as a guest with a wide variety of artists including Ensemble New SRQ, Baumer String Quartet, St. Vincent and Quest Love. Always keeping his eyes open for new possibilities for the double bass, Perry performed his transcription of William Bolcom’s Graceful Ghost Rag for the composer himself in an all-Bolcom program at the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth in 2010. In 2021, Brian, along with DSO colleague Emily Levin presented a recital of duos for double bass and harp as part of the online International Society of Bassists Convention in 2021. This program, inspired by Ginastera’s orchestral work Variaciones Concertantes, featured a world premiere, Three Shapes for Brian, composed by Boston-based composer Justin Casinghino. Additional collaborations have included The Concert Truck residency and Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat with Dallas Chamber Music Society.

Perry earned his music degrees from Boston University and the University of North Texas. His principal teachers include Larry Moore, Jeff Bradetich and Edwin Barker. He has served as a board member for the International Society of Bassists (I.S.B.) and the Bradetich Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting the double bass as a solo instrument. Committed to educating and mentoring young bassists, he is currently Adjunct Associate Professor of Double Bass at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts. He has adjudicated and presented masterclasses for both the 2015 I.S.B. convention and the TCU Bass Fest and, since 2010, has been the double bass instructor at the highly acclaimed Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Lenox, Mass., one of the nation’s premier summer orchestral training programs for high school students. Perry performs on a unique double bass crafted by Luigi Montanari in Milan, Italy c. 1905.