Mark Morton is Principal Bass of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and is the first prize winner of the International Society of Bassists Solo Competition in New York City. Morton is currently instructor of bass at Capital University, in Bexley, Ohio. Formerly, he was the assistant double bass instructor for Gary Karr at the Hartt School of Music. Starting in fall of 2008, Morton will be Assistant Professor of Double Bass at Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, Texas. A busy recitalist and concerto performer, Mark Morton has been a featured double bass soloist on radio and television broadcasts including NPR's "Performance Today." His “Thresholds” album is a compact disc that covers important repertoire for the solo Double Bass. Brad Opland of Bass World Magazine writes, “Mark Morton has produced a well-rounded CD for a new generation of aspiring bassists.” An accomplished pianist, Morton began his musical studies on both the double bass and piano. By the age of seventeen he had performed as piano soloist with several orchestras including the Houston Symphony Orchestra. He then focused his musical energies on the double bass, earning the undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Juilliard School in New York. He subsequently went on to be only the second bassist to receive the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in the history of that institution. As an author, he has written and published the "Dr. Morton" series of books on the art of bass playing. He has had many articles appear in Strings, Bass World, American String Teacher magazines, as well the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Mark Morton is the Artistic Director of the American School of Double Bass®. The American School of Double Bass® draws students, teachers, and professionals from all over the United States to its summer retreats, private lessons, workshops, and masterclasses. As a soloist, Mark Morton performs on a string bass made circa 1775 in Naples, Italy by Gennaro Vinnacia. When playing in the bass section of the Columbus Symphony, he performs on a large double bass, also made in Naples, by Antonio Gagliano in 1805.