Jeff Turner

A dedicated teacher, Jeffrey Turner currently serves as Professor of Double Bass at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He also holds the position of Distinguished Artist at the McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University. Turner was as an adjunct professor at Duquesne University (1988–2017), where he served as Director of Orchestral Activities (2011-2016), String Department Chair (1995–1999) and Artistic Director of the City Music Center’s Young Bassist Program. He also held the position of Artist Lecturer in Double Bass at Carnegie Mellon University from 1989–2011. Turner has also served as resident artist for many annual educational festivals, including the Pacific Music Festival, the National Orchestral Institute, and the National Youth Orchestra (USA).

As principal bassist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Turner served thirty-one seasons under music directors Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, and Manfred Honeck. He was the principal bassist of the New American Chamber Orchestra from 1984–1986 and played with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for the 1986–87 season. 

A winner of the Y Music Society’s Passamaneck Award, he appeared in a critically acclaimed recital at Carnegie Music Hall in 1989. Turner has appeared often as a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, including in world premieres of Thomas Newman’s double bass concerto Ward’s Ferry and Leonardo Balada’s Caprichos No. 4, as well as Mozart’s ‘Per questa bella mano.’

In 2009, Turner completed his master’s in conducting with Dr. Robert Page at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to his Duquesne University post, he has been Artistic Director of the City Music Center Chamber Orchestra (2004–2008) and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Live Chamber Orchestra (2004–2006). He served as Artist Lecturer in Conducting and conducted opera productions at Carnegie Mellon University, and has conducted his Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra colleagues in benefit concerts.