The midpoint of each concert cycle with the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra Program brings one of our favorite learning opportunities: sectionals, where students from each section of the orchestra join together to dive deeply into their music. On a typical sectional day, each section scatters into rooms across the building, each group joined by a Richmond Symphony musician or Richmond-region music teacher as coach. Frequently found with the lower strings is one of our most beloved coaches: Harry Grossman, a professional double bassist, music teacher, and YOP alum.
Grossman, a native of Chesterfield County, started playing the double bass in the sixth grade, after the Midlothian Middle School orchestra visited his elementary school the year prior on a recruitment tour. After their performance, the students hosted an instrument petting zoo, where Grossman first tried the double bass.
“I tried the violin—not really a fan. Tried the viola—it wasn’t really comfortable. Tried the cello, it just didn’t really work. And then, I went over to the bass,” Grossman described. As the Midlothian Middle School student bassist waved him over, she said, “Whoa, wait a second. Let me see your hands. … You have really big hands. You should play the bass,” Grossman recalled with a laugh.
And so began Grossman’s journey as an orchestral musician. He played the bass all throughout middle school, and during high school, auditioned to join the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra Program.
“I had gotten more into orchestra as I went through high school,” Grossman said. “I had heard through the grapevine at [Midlothian High School] about the Youth Orchestra Program, and so I decided that I was interested enough to go for it.” He spent his first year in the program in Youth Concert Orchestra (YCO), the program’s intermediate full orchestra, and from there, the trajectory of his life was changed.
“Going from a small program to a full orchestra… was so mind-bending to me,” Grossman said. “It felt magical. Everything always went right when I went to rehearsal.”
In YCO was Grossman’s first exposure to standard classical repertoire, such as Alexander Borodin’s Polovetsian Dances. “To go from playing [educational pieces]… to an arrangement of a real work” was a standout memory for Grossman. “It’s such a good piece,” he said.
Another favorite piece was Camille Saint-Saëns’s Danse Bacchanale, which the Youth Orchestra Program performed at its 50th anniversary concert in January 2012. “They made different versions of it, [including] easy simplified ones,” Grossman explained, so that every student in each of the four orchestras could join together on stage for the concert’s finale.
After graduating from Midlothian High School and the Youth Orchestra Program in 2014, Grossman studied bass performance at Shenandoah University, located in Winchester. There, he joined the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra on its 2017 tour to Argentina, where he performed as bass soloist on Alberto Ginastera’s Variaciones Concertantes. In 2019, Grossman and his partner, violist Elizabeth Knaub, moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where the pair attended The Hartt School. Here, their violin/viola/cello/bass chamber group, the Norep Quartet, won second prize at the school’s 2020 chamber music competition.
After graduating from The Hartt School, Grossman and Knaub moved back to Chesterfield, Virginia. The following school year, a position opened up at Midlothian High School, where the orchestra students had unexpectedly found themselves without a teacher mid-year.
Originally, Grossman was “kind of on the fence” about applying for the position. At the time, he was still considering a fulltime career in orchestral performance, but felt unsure whether it was still a good fit.
While deliberating, Grossman met with Todd Matthews, his private bass teacher in high school, who encouraged him to make a change and take this new opportunity. “That gave me the freedom to say, ‘I’m going to try this new thing,’” Grossman said. “And I love it so much… I’m so grateful.”
With his former teacher’s words in mind, Grossman applied for the position. “You know what? I’m going to give this a shot,” he told himself. “I’m going to go for this.”
And so in February 2022, Grossman returned to his alma mater—a week before they were set to attend the annual VMEA District Orchestra Assessment.
“The first time I actually met the kids was not in class. It was actually an afterschool rehearsal,” Grossman said. “I was so nervous. The very first thing I did in front of them was get a score, sight read it, conduct it, and lead a rehearsal.”
As Grossman began to conduct the first piece, everything fell into place. “The stuff I’ve learned [in music school], I’ve internalized,” Grossman realized. “I might have not been perfect. My conducting form probably wasn’t the best. But I remember leading … I had good ideas about phrasing and dynamics. And it was such a great feeling.”
Within the week, the Midlothian High School orchestras boarded the bus with their instruments and attended District 3’s District Orchestra Assessment. There, they were awarded a score of Superior—the highest possible rating they could have achieved.
“To go in and do that as a new teacher was so great,” Grossman said. “We went to assessment with these kids just trusting me,” he said, “and got our superiors.”
He credits the students equally for their success: “They had been under the pressure of essentially leading themselves in rehearsals for … sub after sub for two months before I started. Props to them for [getting to] work.”
Following his first half year, Grossman was hired as the school’s fulltime orchestra director. Since then, the orchestra program at Midlothian High School has flourished: between his two orchestral ensembles, Grossman now has a roster of over fifty students, making his one of the largest orchestra programs in the county. Alongside the school’s equally strong band and chorus programs, Grossman’s ensembles have continued to earn Superior rankings at assessments, resulting in the Virginia Music Educators Association presenting Midlothian High School with the prestigious Blue Ribbon Award.
What Grossman finds most rewarding about teaching is the connections he’s made with his students.
“The fact that they can come in, feel like they’re at home in the orchestra room, feel like they’re in a safe place and that they can push themselves and be vulnerable is so meaningful to me,” Grossman said. “It’s just so great to feel that we can be down to earth in the way we work together. … Whether you want to go for a minor or major in music, be a professional, [or] do it for fun for the rest of your life, the fact that they can take [music] and keep it with them for the rest of their life is why this job is so important to me.”
Outside of Midlothian High School, Grossman teaches private bass lessons and performs in the Ottava Bassa Duo, a viola/bass chamber group formed with his partner Knaub. And of course, Grossman has returned to the Youth Orchestra Program, where he serves as a regular coach for both cello and bass sectionals.
“Every time I come for sectionals, I look on stage,” Grossman reminisced. “What I would give to just walk on stage and look out again. It’s so amazing being on that stage and performing every time.”
Grossman described his experiences in the Youth Orchestra Program and YCO in particular as “the inciting event” for his career in music.
“[The Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra Program] is amazing,” Grossman said. “It’s part of the reason that I’m doing what I’m doing.”
Our monthly Spotlight Series is written by Anna Mitchell, Education & Social Media Coordinator.
