his week’s Contrabass Conversations episode features an in-depth analysis of the double bass opera excerpts most commonly requested at auditions. Double bassist (and regular Contrabass Conversations guest and co-host) John Grillo discusses each of these excerpts–stylistic considerations, differences in articulation and bow strokes, and suggestions for effectively learning them–and then performs them. We believe that this project will be a highly valuable resource for bassists worldwide, and we’d love your feedback on this project! John and I created an excerpt breakdown for the most commonly requested orchestra excerpts back on CBC 41, and this has proven to be a highly popular and extremely useful resource to double bassists worldwide. Our hope is that this opera excerpt episode will do the same for the less familiar but wonderfully challenging double bass operatic literature. Opera excerpts covered on this episode: Strauss Salome Rosenkavalier Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Die Walküre Britten Peter Grimes Verdi Otello Rigoletto Falstaff Weber Euryanthe Mozart Magic Flute Marriage of Figaro Beethoven Fidelo Humperdinck Hansel and Gretel