Nicholas Scales

Double Bass Session 1 and 2
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Nicholas Scales currently serves as a Professor of Double Bass and the coordinator of the Music Business Degree program at West Texas A&M University. He also holds the Al and Pat Smith Endowed Principal Chair as the double bassist of the Amarillo Symphony. Regularly performing with Chamber Music Amarillo, Amarillo Opera, and as a jazz bassist for various groups in the Amarillo area, he served as the Principal Bassist of the Utah Festival Opera Orchestra and Musical Theater Company from 2013 to 2024. Nick is an accomplished and versatile performer who is comfortable in solo, orchestral, jazz, and chamber music settings. His performance credits include eleven years as a core section bass in the Dallas Opera orchestra, alongside numerous regional orchestral positions and substitute performances with the San Antonio, Fort Worth, Tulsa, and Shreveport Symphonies. Additionally, he has performed a variety of solo and chamber recitals, guest performances, and pedagogical clinics throughout his career. In 2012, Nick was invited to perform as a faculty bassist at the Orfeo Music Festival in Vipiteno, Italy. He was also invited as a guest artist-teacher by the South African National Youth Orchestra in Cape Town in 2017. His teaching experience includes adjunct appointments at Texas Christian University and the University of North Texas. Nick maintains a successful private studio and is highly regarded as a clinician and adjudicator. He resides in Amarillo, TX, with his wife Lori, who is also a bassist.