Dominic Seldis
ENGLISH DOUBLE BASSIST
Personal Life
Dominic Max Seldis was born in Bury St. Edmunds in 1971. Beginning his education at Manchester’s Chetham School of Music in 1979, the young Seldis initially decided on the violin as his instrument of choice. However, at 14, he switched to the double bass and learned under Duncan McTier. After a decade at Chetham, Seldis studied with Robin McGee at London’s Royal Academy of Music before relocating to Salzburg’s Mozarteum to learn with Klaus Stoll.
Today, Seldis works as a professor at London’s Royal Academy of Music and has been known to teach master classes internationally.
Career
Dominic Seldis is a respected soloist who has played in many orchestras. Along with featuring in music as disparate as death metal to the Sugababes, he has made a number of TV appearances both on UK and international networks.
Throughout his career, Seldis has featured in an extensive amount of orchestras.
Playing in the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, London Symphony and London Sinfonietta, he has also lent his double bass to the Orchestra of St. Johns Smith Square, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Additionally playing in the John Wilson Orchestra for which he makes regular appearances, as a chamber music enthusiast, Seldis has collaborated often with the piano player James Pearson.
1998 was a landmark year for Seldis, seeing him become the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’s principal player. After a decade of service, another opportunity called to him from the Netherlands.
Joining up with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2008, the same year also brought about a TV appearance on the BBC 2 Maestro. Seldis would host the Dutch version of this programme at intervals throughout the 2010s, starting in 2012. In 2014 Seldis co-hosted the RTL4 network’s Het Orkest van Nederland (The Orchestra of the Netherlands) show and was even given his own programme De Nieuwe Stradivarius (The New Stradivarius) for NPO 2 in 2017.
Musically, Seldis has never sat still. First recording on acid jazz compilations in the early 90s, his contributions to Cancer’s 1995 Black Faith album preceded work on the European Soloists Ensemble Chamber Works album and a high-profile feature on Nick Glennie-Smith’s The Man In The Iron Mask soundtrack. Into the 2000s, Seldis offered his bass to the pop giants of Mel B and Sugababes and later lent his talents to the Dutch artist Channah for 2013’s Syrup & Rain.
Ultimately, Dominic Seldis had proven himself a true maestro of the double bass. He has consistently challenged expectations, whether in one of his countless orchestra appearances or on a pop record.
Did You Know?
Combining his passion for both orchestra and pop, Seldis has his very own pop ensemble entitled The Love Philharmonic, featuring bandmates from the Concertgebouw Orchestra!
Dominic Seldis Recordings
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Music Lessons
