Leon Bosch

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Leon Bosch

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1961|07|07|df=y}}

| birth_place = Cape Town, South Africa

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| instrument = double bass

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| label = Meridian Records

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| website = [http://www.leonbosch.co.uk/ www.leonbosch.co.uk/]

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Leon Bosch is a double bassist known for his expressive bel canto style.{{Cite web |url=http://www.contrabass.co.uk/virtuoso_double_bass_cd.htm |title=Virtuoso Double Bass - Works of Giovanni Bottesini - Bosch & Kang- specialist Double Bass CD's and Recordings from the Contrabass Shoppe |access-date=22 September 2010 |archive-date=29 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194846/http://www.contrabass.co.uk/virtuoso_double_bass_cd.htm |url-status=dead }}http://www.nac-cna.ca/en/news/viewnews.cfm?ID=749&cat=catNACO. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306211345/http://www.nac-cna.ca/en/news/viewnews.cfm?ID=749&cat=catNACO |date=6 March 2012 }} He was principal double bass of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields,http://www.leonbosch.co.uk/article02.pdf, Double Bassist Magazine #25 Summer 2003 published by Orpheus Publications

Newsquest Specialist Media from 1995 until 2014{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestrad.com/double-bassist-leon-bosch-announces-retirement-from-academy-of-st-martin-in-the-fields/1920.article|title = Double bassist Leon Bosch announces retirement from Academy of St Martin in the Fields}} but is also known as a chamber musician, recitalist, concerto soloist, teacher, conductor and program consultant. He is artistic director of the chamber music ensembles I Musicanti and the Ubuntu Ensemble.{{Cite web|url=http://www.imusicanti.co.uk/about/|title = About | I Musicanti}}

Career

Born in Cape Town, though now a British citizen, Bosch graduated from the University of Cape Town before continuing his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Since his 1984 London solo debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Bosch has appeared as a concerto soloist with many distinguished musicians, including Pinchas Zukerman, Sir Charles Groves and Nicholas Kraemer.

Highlights of his chamber music partnerships have included engagements with the Lindsay, Belcea and Brodsky String Quartets, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, I Musicanti, and the Moscow Virtuosi. He has worked with such pianists as Maria João Pires, Mikhail Rudy, Vladimir Ovchinikov, Peter Donohoe, Martin Roscoe and, most recently on CD,{{cite web |url=http://www.leonbosch.co.uk/music3.php |title=Listen to Music by Leon Bosch |accessdate=2010-09-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100812004847/http://www.leonbosch.co.uk/music3.php |archivedate=2010-08-12 }} {{cite web |url=http://www.leonbosch.co.uk/music3.php |title=Listen to Music by Leon Bosch |accessdate=2010-09-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100812004847/http://www.leonbosch.co.uk/music3.php |archivedate=2010-08-12 }} the Vienna-based Korean pianist Sung-Suk Kang.{{cite web |url=http://www.sungsuk-kang.com/english/bio_frame.html |title=English - biography |accessdate=2010-09-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716163207/http://www.sungsuk-kang.com/english/bio_frame.html |archivedate=2011-07-16 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.meridian-records.co.uk/artist_of_month_leon_bosch.htm|title = Artist of Month - Leon Bosch}}

Bosch has played a significant part in, and received acclaim for, the exploration of challenging and little-known music for double bass both in live performance and on disc.http://www.leonbosch.co.uk/article03.pdf Double Bassist magazine #29 Summer 2004 published by Orpheus Publications Newsquest Specialist Media{{cite web |url=http://www.leonbosch.co.uk/music3.php |title=Listen to Music by Leon Bosch |accessdate=2010-09-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100812004847/http://www.leonbosch.co.uk/music3.php |archivedate=2010-08-12 }} He has been responsible for a number of important first performances including "Pueblo", a commission from John McCabe, several works by Allan Stephenson, and music by the South African composers Hendrik Hofmeyr and Paul Hanmer.

As a teacher, Leon Bosch holds a professorship at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London {{Cite web|url=https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/study/teaching-staff/leon-bosch|title = Leon Bosch}} and is on the teaching staff at The Purcell School for young musicians {{Cite web|url=https://www.purcell-school.org/staff/leon-bosch/|title=Leon Bosch | the Purcell School|date=24 September 2018}}

In 2024, he received the Walter Willson Cobbett medal, awarded by the Worshipful Company of Musicians for services to chamber musichttps://wcom.org.uk/awards/the-walter-wilson-cobbett-medal-for-services-to-chamber-music/

Bosch's experiences under South Africa's apartheid regime have ensured he has a keen interest in social and political issues; he holds a master's degree in Intelligence and International Relations from the University of Salford.

Discography

Source:{{cite web |url=http://www.leonbosch.com/music_84626.php |title=Welcome to Leon Bosch |website=www.leonbosch.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216065419/http://leonbosch.com/music_84626.php |archive-date=2016-02-16}}

With Sung-Suk Kang (piano)

The Music of Rankl, Sprongl and Hindemith

Josep Cervera-Bret: The Catalan Virtuoso

Pedro Valls: Music for Double Bass and Piano

The Hungarian Double Bass

Bottesini: Virtuoso Double Bass, vols 1 & 2

The Russian Double Bass

The British Double Bass

With Rebeca Omordia (piano)

The South African Double Bass

18 Negro Spirituals

Bottesini: Virtuoso Double Bass vol 3