Todd Gowers has performed, toured, and recorded with the Seattle Symphony as a substitute bassist since 1991. He has been principal bassist with the Bolshoi Ballet, Luciano Pavarotti, The Moody Blues, Yes, Tacoma Symphony and Opera, Fifth Avenue Theater, and Paramount Theater. He has performed with Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Northwest Sinfonietta, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and Anchorage Symphony.
In the summer of 1990 Todd was chosen by audition to be one of 50 American musicians to perform with 50 Soviet musicians in the American/ Soviet Youth Orchestra. The Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin, toured and recorded in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and the United States as part of the cultural exchange ushered in by Glasnost.
As a recording bassist, he has performed on film soundtracks, commercials and with artists including Dave Matthews and Evanescence since 1992. He also plays jazz, performing with the Island Jazz Quintet and the Hammon/Esvelt Quintet.
He worked with composer Phillip Glass for the opera “In The Penal Colony” in 2000-2001. Featuring music by Glass, the opera, based on a short story by Franz Kafka, was performed in Seattle, Chicago, and New York City.
Mr. Gowers has been teaching the bass privately since 1986. He is a former bass coach for the Seattle, Cascade, and Tacoma Youth Symphonies, and taught orchestra in the Edmonds and Northshore School Districts' elementary and middle schools. Todd has been coaching for the Endangered Instrument Program for Seattle and Shoreline school districts since the program's inception in 1988. He is also a frequent adjudicator at State and Regional Solo Contests.
Mr. Gowers is Adjunct Professor of Double Bass at Seattle Pacific University, where he has taught since 1998. Every June at SPU he organizes one of the largest bass camps in America, the Hammond Ashley Memorial Double Bass Workshop.