Thierry Barbé

Thierry Barbé is principal bass in the Paris National Opera Orchestra and double bass professor at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris. Born in Metz, eastern France, Barbé studied piano and double bass while simultaneously pursuing a degree in science, before devoting himself exclusively to music at the CNSMDP, where he earned degrees in Harmony, conterpoint, 1st prize music analysis, music history, and a first prize in double bass with JM Rollez. Barbé likes to perform recitals with piano, plays all types of expressive music, with the legendary “French touch”sound and sense of phrasing. He has played and featured in master classes in about 17 countries. He has taught double bass since 1982, notably at the Saint Maur conservatoire, near Paris, where he keeps advanced students from all over the world. He frequently performs his own compositions (his first CD, “Nomade”, was released in 1998). Barbé has experimented with numerous technical approaches to the double bass (left hand positions and bows, regulations…). He likes to concile all of them. Since 2001, Barbé is the French Bass Society president (ABCDF). He is member of the I.S.B. board, and organized an international bass convention in Paris in 2008.