Alexander Jacobsen, double bassist, has been a member of the National Symphony Orchestra since 2013. He teaches privately at Howard University and George Washington University, and has also appeared as a guest instructor at the University of Maryland, Peabody Conservatory, and the Kennedy Center’s Summer Music Institute. In addition to teaching and ensemble playing, Alex enjoys finding and transcribing new solo pieces for double bass, and claimed third place in the International Society of Bassists Solo competition in 2015.

Born in Albuquerque, Alex began studying double bass in ninth grade. During his high school years he played jazz professionally and substituted with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Fe Symphony, and also spent two summers as a student at the Brevard Music Center in Brevard, NC.

He was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008, where he studied with Edgar Meyer and Harold Robinson. During the summers, he attended the Aspen Music Festival and School in Aspen, CO and the Verbier Festival in Verbier, Switzerland.

Alex plays a 19th century Italian bass and a bow made by Eugene Sartory. When he isn’t busy performing, he composes and arranges music for chamber ensembles.