Calling All Bass Players
Come join us on Saturday, March 22nd for annual Utah Tech Bass Day! Bassists of all ages and skill levels are invited to participate. Topics will cover both double bass and bass guitar. The UT Bass Day is an opportunity to get inspired as bassists. The day includes sessions dedicated to bass technique, history, and repertoire, as well as masterclasses and performances with faculty and guest artists.
Organized by Dr. Robert Matheson, the UT Bass Day will take place on the Utah Tech University campus at the Eccles Fine Art Center in beautiful Saint George, UT. The event will be a day full of bass-related performances, classes, and ensemble playing.
Our guest artists this year are Dr. Philip Alejo and Dr. Denson Angulo. Philip Alejo is a performer and educator who lives and works in Tucson, Arizona. He is professor of double bass at The University of Arizona and is an active soloist, orchestral bassist, and chamber musician. Denson Angulo is joining us from Salt Lake City, Utah where he is an in-demand freelancer and educator, experienced in classical, jazz, and commercial music.
Registration for the UT Bass Day is $40. Please follow the “Register Now” link above and make plans to join us on March 22, 2025.
Dr. Robert Matheson
Bass Festival Director
robert.matheson@utahtech.edu
(435)652-7996
Dr. Philip Alejo – Festival Guest Artist
Dr. Philip Alejo is the Associate Professor of Music, Double Bass at the University of Arizona and Artist Faculty at the Bay View Music Festival. Previously he served as Associate Principal Bass of the Quad City Symphony and Visiting Professor of Bass at the University of Michigan. A former member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Philip has additionally performed with the Tucson Symphony, Arizona Opera, Ensemble Dal Niente, Flint Symphony, and Ann Arbor Symphony.
As a chamber musician, Philip collaborates regularly with harpist Claire Happel in River Town Duo. RTD has premiered many newly commissioned works by living composers, including Caroline Shaw, Stephen Andrew Taylor, and Hannah Lash. His numerous music festivals residencies include Spoleto Festival USA, Lucerne Festival, Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, Mackinac Island Music Festival, Oaxaca Instrumenta, Aldeburgh Festival, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival.
Philip teaches at the Arizona ASTA Bass Jams and the Richard Davis Bass Conference at the University of Wisconsin. He was recently named Guest Professor at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music and MusAid Teaching Artist at El Sistema, El Salvador. Philip holds degrees from Oberlin College (BA, BM), Yale University (MM), and the University of Michigan (DMA), where his principal teachers included Diana Gannett, Donald Palma, Peter Dominguez, and Thomas Sperl.
Dr. Denson Angulo – Festival Guest Artist
Denson Angulo is one of the most sought-after bassists in the Salt Lake City metro area. With a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in classical performance and jazz studies, and skills in an abundance of music styles, Denson has worked extensively as an educator and free-lance professional playing electric bass, acoustic jazz, and classical double bass. A sample of his credentials include international tours to China, Taiwan, Australia, and most of Europe; performances with jazz greats Bob Mintzer, Bob Berg, Randy Brecker, Victor Wooten, Nicholas Payton, Bob Shepard, Jamie Abersold, Wycliffe Gordon, Dennis DiBlasio, Kathy Kosins, Tom Scott, Shelly Berg, Bobby Shew, Gregg Bissonette, Carl Allen and many others. As a classical musician, he has recorded for ESPN, ABC, NBC television, DreamWorks Pictures, and LDS motion pictures, and is the principal bassist for Sinfonia Salt Lake, Utah’s premier chamber orchestra.
As an educator he has maintained private bass studios for over 25 years. He has traveled the inter-mountain west as an adjudicator and clinician and has been on faculty at Brigham Young University Idaho, Snow College, Utah Valley University, Salt Lake Community College, Utah State University, and Weber State University. Currently, Dr. Angulo is an assistant professor at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT working with classical and jazz bass students, coordinating the small jazz group program, directing a large jazz ensemble and teaching jazz improvisation. Denson also free-lances and teaches all over Utah and throughout the United States.
Dr. Robert Matheson – Festival Director
Double bassist and music technologist Robert Matheson incorporates elements of classical, jazz, and contemporary music into his original works. In his solo performances, he achieves a fluid interaction between acoustic and electro-acoustic music. His performance setup allows him to perform live electro-acoustic music while maintaining the integrity of the natural, acoustic sound of the bass.
Robert has performed with ensembles representing a wide range of musical genres, including the Ironwood Duo, Portable Masterpieces, the Tucson Chamber Orchestra, Tuacahn Center for the Arts, and the Rebel Jazz Band. Solo and ensemble performances have taken him throughout the United States and to Europe.
Robert Matheson received a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in bass performance from the University of Arizona where he studied bass performance with Patrick Neher and music technology with Dr. Norman Weinberg and Dr. Craig Walsh. He previously studied bass performance with Barry Green at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Dr. David Young at California State University, Long Beach. Dr. Matheson teaches double bass and bass guitar studio lessons, music technology, popular music, and directs the Digital Electro-Acoustic Performance (DEAP) Ensemble at Utah Tech University.