Kismet?

Double Bassist, Student, Protégé

To be sure, not many 20-year olds aspire to play with a major symphony orchestra… perhaps, someday to conduct. Cleary, fate and circumstances are in tune with Taddes Korris’ goals.

He was born in Toronto, and raised in Edmonton by his mother and grandparents, who immigrated to Canada from Lithuania. He credits a number of individuals and unexpected events that have led to his bright future.

“My early musical exposure came from my mom. She was the general manager of the Edmonton Opera, but she also worked with other opera companies in Europe. And with that, I grew up in opera halls and symphony halls, so I had a very early exposure.”

Taddes had played both the piano and the saxophone, but was never really dedicated to either. “But, then in high school, there was a double bass… I knew a lot about composers and about string instruments so I thought, ‘It can’t hurt to try.’ And it just took off from there.”

While still at Archbishop MacDonald High School, Taddes took lessons with the principle bass of the Edmonton symphony. He founded the Band of Brothers Jazz Trio and the Mindaugas Quartet. And, in a tribute to his Lithuanian heritage, he recruited 66 youth musicians to record a CD of the rare works of Mikalojus Ciurlionis.

In 2007, Taddes was accepted at McGill University in Montreal. That summer, he studied with world renowned bassists at the Tibor Varga masterclass program in Switzerland and the Carl Flesch String Academy in Germany. At the latter, Taddes practiced on a fully restored, mid-1700s bass which he subsequently purchased.

After his first year at McGill, he was in New York to have the bass appraised. He also arranged for a lesson with Orin O’Brien, a double bassist with the New York Philharmonic, who asked Taddes to play for her colleague, David Grossman. They were impressed enough to arrange an extraordinary audition for the Manhattan School of Music.

“I flew back to New York to have my audition on June 9th and, by June 11th, they told me I was accepted into the program. It was a bit of a life-changing set of circumstances, nothing that I ever really expected.” He’s back for his second year, studying for his Bachelors in Classical Music Performance on the double bass.

What about the 18th Century bass? It’s worth more than three times what he paid. Moreover, Taddes discovered that the restorer had long ago engraved his own initials on the bass: TK. Serendipity… kismet… destiny.

Taddes loves his bass—and his music.

“When you’re lost in the moment of creating something—when no single performance is the same—that’s what really makes this so unique and special to me.”

- Written by Lauren Henrie, Edmontonians Sept 2009