Doublebassists mourn leading personality

The International Society of Bassists has issued a notice of mourning for Gary Karr, who died yesterday of a brain aneurysm, having just been diagnosed with terminal  cancer.

Gary was 83.

Born Gary Michael Kornbleit in Los Angeles,  Gary studied at Juilliard and rose to fame in 1962, playing the swan in Leonard Bernstein’s nationally televised Young People’s Concerts series in Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals. he went on toi make 90 solo recordings.

The ISB adds:

Gary was an influential and inspirational teacher. Not only was he on the faculties of The Juilliard school, New England Conservatory of Music, Hartt School, Yale University and Indiana University, but he also taught classroom music in the Halifax, Nova Scotia Schools’ music program. That experience led him to write a series of instructional books for beginning bassists, encouraging even the youngest students to seek out and appreciate their own unique voice on the instrument.

Gary sought beauty in the world around him and in all that he did. Second only to his love of music was the joy he found in gardening. The breathtaking backyard of his home in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, has become a tour stop for visitors to the island.

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