Paul Nemeth joined The Florida Orchestra as associate principal bass in 2023. Born in Syracuse, New York, Paul grew up in Princeton, New Jersey and studied at The Juilliard School, Yale University, and Northwestern University, where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. His principal teachers and mentors have been Orin O’Brien, Donald Palma, Andrew Raciti, and Paul Ellison. He has been heard throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, appearing in halls such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Freidrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, the Musik und Kongresshall in Lübeck, Sapporo Concert Hall in Tokyo, Strathmore Hall in Maryland, Century Theater in Beijing, Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh, UK, the Kultur und Kongresszentrum (KKL) in Luzern, and Symphony Center in Chicago.

In addition to performing with The Florida Orchestra, Paul has performed with orchestras that include the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, and New World Symphony. He previously served as principal bass of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra in Annapolis, Maryland and performed in their first European tour to Spain, performing in Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza, and Granada. Paul has worked with many of today’s leading conductors, such as Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, Semyon Bychkov, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, Fabio Luisi, Christoph Eschenbach, Marin Alsop, Pablo Heras-Casado, Matthias Pintscher, and David Robertson.

Paul’s festival performances include the Lucerne Festival Academy, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, Pacific Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival. While living in Chicago, Paul was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, where he had the opportunity to work with Alexander Hanna, principal double bass of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He went on to join The Orchestra Now (TON) at Bard College for two seasons, where he regularly performed in New York City at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2017, Paul received 2nd Prize in the International Society of Bassists Orchestral Competition in Ithaca, New York and has been a recipient of their Project 80/90 Grant.

Outside of orchestral performance, Paul has been active in performing and researching chamber music that includes the double bass. He has performed chamber works with the North Country Chamber Players, members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in Alice Tully Hall, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, at Merkin Hall in New York, the Zhao B Art Center in Chicago, (le) poisson rouge, the FOCUS! Festival at Lincoln Center, the Summergarden Festival at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), ensemblenewSRQ (enSRQ), and the Palladium Chamber Players. With the Florestan String Quartet, he had the opportunity to tour Taiwan, giving performances and educational workshops in Taipei, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, and Taichung.

His doctoral studies at Northwestern culminated with the thesis “The Early Publication History of Domenico Dragonetti”, a research document that discusses the Venetian double bass virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti and his role in the English Bach revival. Paul most recently lectured on this topic at the International Society of Bassists Convention, hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His interest in discovering the repertoire of the double bass in chamber music lead to his creation of the Double Bass Chamber Music Database on his website, which lists over 4,000 works. The website has been featured in periodicals such as Chamber Music America and Bass World. Paul has also enjoyed performing with a number of ensembles specializing in period performance, such as the Sebastians, Seraphic Fire, American Baroque Orchestra, and Yale Schola Cantorum, working with musicians such as William Christie, Masaaki Suzuki, Nicholas Kraemer, Jaap Schröder, and Nicholas McGegan.

A dedicated music educator, he has held teaching positions with the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, Bard College Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division, the Juilliard-Nord Anglia Performing Arts Programme, and Yale College, where he taught undergraduate students. He also enjoys coaching the bassists of the Tampa Metropolitan Youth Orchestra (TMYO) and teaches during the summer at the Patel Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Orchestra Intensive. For more information about how to study double bass with Paul, please visit his teaching page. Paul currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife and their two guinea pigs.