Double bassist Bruce Ridge has been a member of the North Carolina Symphony since 1987. He began his professional career when he joined the Virginia Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15. Ridge later studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music where he graduated with Distinction in Performance honors.
A former member of the City of Raleigh Arts Commission, Ridge served as Chairperson of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) from 2006 until 2016, becoming the longest-serving Chairperson in the history of the organization.
As chairman of ICSOM, Ridge became an international leader on issues affecting arts organizations and met with orchestras across America, from San Juan to Honolulu. He served as a faculty member for many sessions of the League of American Orchestras’ “Orchestra Leadership Academy” as well as on the faculty for the League’s music director search seminars. He appeared as a guest speaker on the history of symphony orchestras in America at The Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles and Roosevelt University in Chicago, and in 2019 he was invited to deliver a keynote address for the Symphony Orchestra Musicians Association of Australia in Sydney.
In March of 2009, he was invited to testify before Congress during a hearing on the Economic and Employment Impact of the Arts and Music Industry. He has been invited by the Federation International des Musiciens to address three International Orchestra Conferences (in Berlin, Amsterdam, and Oslo). His speeches and articles have been published in numerous countries, and many of his essays on the orchestral field can be found in the book Last Year’s Words, and Next Year’s Voices: Essays and Speeches from a Decade as Chairman of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians. Ridge has been honored by the Theater Musicians Association, the Regional Orchestra Players’ Association, the Norfolk Musicians’ Association, and the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians.
In the North Carolina Symphony, Ridge performs on double basses made by Alfred Lamy in 1870 and Abraham Prescott, c.1822. He has also played the electric bass guitar and solo jazz bass on the Symphony’s Pops series.