Joshua Thrush, double bass

Meet Joshua

Joshua appears on Show 428.

Joshua Thrush (double bass), 16, attends James Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia, He has studied the double bass for six years under the instruction of Ira Gold of the National Symphony. He is a 2023 YoungArts Merit Winner and a third-year Youth Fellow with the National Symphony Orchestra. Joshua is principal bass for the American Youth Philharmonic, and principal bass of the James Madison High School Chamber Orchestra, the 2021 and 2022 Northern Virginia Senior Regional Orchestra, and the 2022 All-Virginia High School Orchestra. In 2022, Joshua won first place in the LSU Bass Fest, 15-18-year old Solo Competition, the Feder Memorial Strings Competition, the Great Composers Series Best Bach Performance Competition, and received the 2022 National Federation of Music Club’s Joyce Walsh Junior Disability Award. In 2021, Joshua placed first in the International Society of Bassists 14 and under Solo Competition, the National Philharmonic Solo Bach Competition, and the American Youth Symphonic Orchestra Solo Competition. Joshua will participate in the National Youth Orchestra of the United States in summer 2023. In summer of 2022, Joshua performed as part of Boston University Tanglewood Institute’s Young Artists Orchestra and has previously spent summers in the Birch Creek Symphony, ISB Young Bassists Program, National Philharmonic Summer Strings, and Bass Works Maryland. He has played in masterclasses for Francois Rabbath, Paul Ellison, and Xavier Foley. Joshua teaches double bass lessons for younger students through his high school’s elementary music outreach program. When not playing bass, Joshua enjoys fishing, boating, cooking, and weightlifting. He intends to pursue a career in classical double bass performance.