Michel Taddei

Professional Overview

Michel Taddei is a founding member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and is Principal Bass of the San Francisco Chamber and Pacific Chamber Orchestras, the Mendocino Music Festival, the Berkeley Symphony, the Bay Philharmonic, Assistant Principal of the California Symphony, and has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera Center, New York City Opera National Company, and New Century Chamber Orchestras, among others.

At the invitation of Kent Nagano, he was Principal Bass for the Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Lyon for seven seasons, and he has performed with Ensemble Mik Nawooj, Earplay, the Empyrean Ensemble, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the Saint Lawrence String Quartet.  He has performed chamber music at the Habana Clásica, Moab, and Valley of the Moon festivals, the Festival des sept Chapelles, and festivals in Rive de Gier and Les Côtes de Roussillon.  In addition, he has toured with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble in the US and in Central Asia.

Michel is also a prolific recording artist, with releases on labels including Philips, EMI, Virgin Classics, and Erato, as well as substantial film and commercial work to his credit.. Michel teaches at the Crowden Music Center in Berkeley, CA, and is Education and Personnel Manager for the California Symphony, where he runs their Sound Minds educational program. He has coached double bass and chamber music and conducted for the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, Young Peoples Symphony Orchestra, Music from Kohl Mansion, the Oakland Youth Orchestra, and the Golden Gate Philharmonic, among other youth ensembles.

Michel studied bass with Homer Mensch at the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division, has a BA in History from Columbia University where he was a John Jay National Scholar, and pursued graduate studies at UC Berkeley.