Misha Bjerken was appointed Principal Bass of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in 2025. In addition, he serves as Assistant Principal Bass of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Louisville Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Boston Pops, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. In the summer of 2025, he joined the BSO and the Gewandhausorkester Leipzig as part of the Festival Orchestra for the Shostakovich Festival Leipzig 2025. Other summer festivals include the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, and Spoleto Festival USA. As a chamber musician, Misha has played in Mayfest, Cornell’s International Chamber Music Festival, and performed Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto conducted by Samy Rachid in Boston Symphony Hall as a part of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Ligeti Centennial celebration in 2023. Hailing from Ithaca, NY, he holds bachelors and masters degrees from New England Conservatory where he studied with Don Palma and Todd Seeber.
As a bassist, Misha strives to expand the instrument’s versatility through different genres by performing in jazz, classical, bluegrass, and folk ensembles. He hopes to help grow the double bass repertoire for students and professionals alike. He wants to not only add music for the bass to the classical repertoire but to make classical music more accessible to younger audiences. He believes that writing and performing new music for the double bass and other previously underrepresented instruments is one step in revitalizing the importance of classical music in American culture.
Mayfest 