Danny Ziemann, the double bass instructor in SUNY Oswego’s music department, won second prize in the jazz division of the International Society of Bassists double bass performance competition.
Danny Ziemann, the double bass instructor in SUNY Oswego’s music department, won second prize in the jazz division of the International Society of Bassists double bass performance competition, held in June in conjunction with the bassists’ biennial convention at Colorado State University.
The society holds three professional-level competitions—solo, jazz and orchestral. Dr. Julie Pretzat, incoming dean of SUNY Oswego’s School of Communication, Media and the Arts, noted that the panel of six judges in the jazz division included jazz bass luminaries Rufus Reid and Buster Williams.
Brett Shurtliffe of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra praised the “amazing” achievement by Ziemann, who hails from Williamsville, and Sam Suggs of Amherst, who took first prize in the solo competition. “These are the biggest and most important competitions for bassists in the world,” he told the Buffalo News. Shurtliffe is the Buffalo Philharmonic’s associate principal bassist and a previous winner of the society’s orchestral competition.