A native of Toronto, Alan Steiner started playing bass in junior high, about 200 years ago by his estimate. In high school, he began private studies with two members of the Toronto Symphony, and went on to receive a Bachelor of Performance from the Curtis Institute of Music. During these years of study, he performed with the International Festival Youth Orchestra (St. Moritz, Switzerland), the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and the Jeunesses Musicales World Youth Orchestra under the batons of Leopold Stokowski, Leonard Bernstein, and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Since then, Alan’s rich orchestral life has led him to play with ensembles such as the Jerusalem Symphony (Israel), L’Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec (Canada), Niagara Symphony, Canadian Opera Company, and the National Ballet of Canada, performing under conductors such as Lukas Foss, Eugene Ormandy, and Mstislav Rostropovich; one of the highlights of his career was performing the entire Ring Cycle with the Lyric Opera of Chicago under Zubin Mehta. As a delightful contrast, one of the most memorable awards he has received was a trucker’s hat adorned with a bowtie, given to him by apologetic choir members after having suffered through a terrible performance of Handel’s Messiah.
Alan has had the pleasure of playing in distinguished halls such as Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna’s Musikverein, NYC’s Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center in DC, and has performed alongside artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovich, Andrea Bocelli, Yitzhak Perlman, Debbie Reynolds, Danny Kaye, and Dizzy Gillespie. He has also performed at the Bedford Springs Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, and the Peninsula Music Festival.
Currently, Alan is a member of the Chicago Sinfonietta, Lake Forest Symphony, and the Park Ridge Orchestra. He also performs and serves as faculty at the Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Wisconsin.
Alan enjoys presenting the world of music with his bass to young students, high-schoolers, and seniors with his own outreach program, Touch Bass with Alan; he has been praised for his “considerable experience working with youngsters to have reached [his audience] with [his] bass playing and interesting stories.” He is also a piano tuner and technician who serves most of Chicago’s North Side and the Northwest Suburbs.
Alan is affiliated with the American String Teachers Association and the International Society of Bassists. More information about Alan can be found on his website at www.touchbasswithalan.com.