THOMAS HARTE
    Thomas Harte took his first double bass lesson during his final semester of high school. He quickly took to the instrument and to classical music and, the following fall, enrolled as a Music Performance Major at Southeast Missouri State University in his home town of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. After two years at Southeast he transferred to The Juilliard School in New York City where he completed his undergraduate degree, as well as a Master's Degree, as a student of the legendary bass player and teacher Homer Mensch. While at Juilliard Thomas performed in many guest artist master classes including those given by Chris Hanulik, Peter Lloyd and Edgar Meyer. As a member of the Juilliard Orchestra he performed under the baton of some of today's most notable conductors such as David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, and Kurt Masur and was asked to join the group for a tour of Asia and for the recording of "Concertos of My Childhood" with violinist Itzhak Perlman. After leaving New York, Thomas moved to Houston to study with Paul Ellison and then to Southern California to study at the USC Thornton School of Music where he received an Artist's Diploma as a student of David Moore of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As an active performer in Southern California, Thomas enjoys playing a variety a musical styles with numerous groups throughout the region. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Leah and, when he is not playing with the Santa Barbara Symphony, he enjoys spending time at La Superica Taqueria.