Prior to joining the National Symphony in 2005, Ira Gold performed with several American orchestras, as Section Bass with the Minnesota Orchestra and as guest Principal Bassist with the San Francisco Symphony and Detroit Symphony. He has attended festivals such as Grand Teton Music Festival, Domaine Forget Music Academy, Aspen, and Tanglewood. Mr. Gold spent several summers at the International Festival Institute at Round Top both as a student and faculty. He has presented masterclasses and recitals throughout the United States, including The Juilliard School, University of Michigan, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Oberlin College, among many others.

Mr. Gold maintains a studio of private students, has taught in the National Symphony Orchestra Youth Fellowship program, and has been a Double Bass Faculty member at Peabody Conservatory since 2009. He is a co-founding member of Peabody Bass Works and DCBass, and will launch the Orchestral Bowing Workshop in summer 2016. Mr. Gold was previously faculty at Catholic University of America, and performed the Vanhal Bass Concerto at Carnegie Hall with the CUA Symphony Orchestra.

An active chamber musician, Mr. Gold has performed with East Coast Chamber Orchestra, the NSO Millenium Stage Prelude Series, Peabody Conservatory Faculty and the New Orchestra of Washington.

He earned his Bachelor of Music degree at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, and his Master of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he won the strings division of the 2005 Concerto Competition. His primary teachers include Edwin Barker and Paul Ellison.