Royal College of Music International Double Bass Festival

David Heyes was a special guest at the Royal College of Music’s International Double Bass Festival in London on Sunday 5th November. Described as “an action-packed day of inspiring, performances and seminars”, the event attracted bassists of all ages and abilities to the RCM. This year’s special guests were David Heyes (UK), Petru Iuga (Romania/Germany), Alberto Bocini (Italy) and Simón García (Spain), alongside the RCM bass professors. The event was directed by Gabriele Ragghianti and Head of Strings, Mark Messenger. Gabriele was a guest at Wells in 2016 and hopefully returns later this year for a masterclass and as a guest of the projected Wells Bass Weekend. English bassist-composer Tony Osborne was also there for part of the day, and his music has been an important part of many concerts at Wells over the past 21 years. David gave a joint-lecture with Gabriele about bass technique and teaching, and joined Alberto Bocini and Simón García for an open-forum about composing for the double bass. He gave an open-lesson to one of the RCM students and talked to many of the attendees about Wells and our thriving double bass department. The day provided a great opportunity to meet up with friends, present and past students, and to have time for all things double bass. David will work with Petru Iuga and Simón García in Spain in March 2018 and with Gabriele Ragghianti and Alberto Bocini in Lucca (Italy) in July 2018. These are exciting times for the double bass and David Heyes is pleased to be part of this Golden Age. Photo: (left to right): Simón García, Alberto Bocini, David Heyes, Sarah Poole (soprano), Gabriele Ragghianti, Peter Buckoke, Tony Hougham