In January 2019, Timothy Dilenschneider was appointed associate principal double bass of the Houston Symphony. Prior to joining this orchestra, Timothy was a member of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of music director Marin Alsop. He has also performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and The Florida Orchestra. His orchestral performances have included tours across Europe, Asia, Africa and the United Kingdom. During the summers, he performs in prestigious music festivals including Festival Napa Valley and Classical Tahoe, where he is the recipient of an endowed chair.
Timothy began playing the double bass at age 8 and studied with Time for Three bassist Ranaan Meyer. He is a 2014 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Hal Robinson and Edgar Meyer. After graduating Curtis, he joined the New World Symphony based in Miami Beach, Florida.
What aspect of Houston are you most interested in exploring?
Bass Robin Kesselman
Craft beer, coffee and all the amazing restaurants in Houston! I can’t wait to try some real Texas BBQ.
What are you most looking forward to performing in your first season with the Houston Symphony?
There are so many pieces, especially as a bass player! Our Eschenbach and Josefowicz program features Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, which has some of the most physically demanding bass playing of the season. I love the energy you have to bring to a Bruckner Symphony, especially the Fourth.
Another is Bell Plays Beethoven. The last time I performed Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, I was on tour in Japan with a small chamber orchestra, and I was the only bass! I’m excited to perform it again with a full section. And Joshua Bell is playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto on the first half! Definitely a must-see concert. I’m also really looking forward to Tchaikovsky’s Third Symphony because it will be my first time playing it! An honorable mention would be Star Wars: A New Hope—in Concert.
engagement in Edinburgh, Scotland
Would you like to share a memorable moment or highlight from your career?
Last August, I was on tour with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in the U.K. The tour kicked off with a concert in Edinburgh that was especially memorable because I proposed to my girlfriend the day before! My now-fiancée (she said yes!) is a violinist who was also performing with the orchestra on tour, so seeing her across the stage made every concert unforgettable. Getting to play for a crowd of 6,000 people as part of the BBC Proms in Royal Albert Hall felt like the cherry on top.
What does music mean to you?
To me, music is about energy. All emotions are the experience of energy moving through the body—contractions such as tension or expansions such as the feeling of calmness. I love to bring energy to concerts and evoke emotions in others, both audience members and other performers on stage with me. That is one of my favorite parts of being a musician.
