Diana Gannett, now Professor Emerita of Bass at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, moved to Michigan in the Summer of 2001. Previously, she was Professor of Bass at University of Iowa after years of teaching and performing on the east coast. Other appointments include the faculties of Yale University School of Music and the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut, the Oberlin College Conservatory in Ohio, and the University of South Florida in Tampa. For many years she held the position of principal double bass at Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. Diana Gannett first studied the double bass with Dr. Eldon Obrecht of the University of Iowa, where she earned her baccalaureate degree. She also studied with Stuart Sankey at Aspen Music Festival and with virtuoso Gary Karr at Yale. While at Yale, she earned degrees as both a master and a doctor in musical arts, the first Yale doctorate awarded in double bass. Her students have been winners in many solo competitions (ISB, ASTA, EMF, Aspen and various regional competitions) and have also won positions in many fine professional orchestras. She is a past President of the International Society of Bassists (ISB) and hosted the 1999 International Convention at the University of Iowa. As chamber musician she has performed with the artists of the Guarneri, Emerson, Laurentian and Stanford Quartets and the Borodin Trio. Her frequent solo appearances include many contemporary premieres and solo improvisations as well as traditional repertoire. She is recorded on Irida records, has a solo CD, “Ladybass”, a duo CD with David Murray “Duetti Dolce”, and has three more CDs soon to be released on iTunes. Diana has a passion for innovative bass construction and has worked as an instrument builder with luthier Carleen Hutchins of the Catgut Acoustical Society. Mrs. Hutchins built the instrument on which Dr. Gannett performs and Diana has completed building a copy of that instrument.
