Michel Taddei leads a varied career as performer, educator, and administrator. He is Principal Bassist of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the Berkeley Symphony, the Fremont Symphony, the Pacific Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Napa Valley, and the Mendocino Music Festival, and is Assistant Principal Bass of the California Symphony. Other groups with which he has performed include the San Francisco Symphony, the New Century Chamber Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, and he works frequently with recording orchestras at Skywalker Sound. Chamber music is a passion for Michel -- a founding member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, he has performed with groups including the Bella Trio, Empyrean Ensemble, Earplay, Quartet San Francisco, Musica Marin, Ensemble SF, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Del Sol and Saint Lawrence String Quartet, and at festivals including Aspen, Tanglewood, Valley of the Moon (on period instruments), Moab, the Musical Days at Forest Hill, French music festivals at Rive-de-Gier and Caves du Roussillon, and the Festival des sept Chapelles in Brittany. He has also performed with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble on multiple tours in the USA and in Central Asia. Michel studied bass with Homer Mensch at the Juilliard School, and is a graduate of Columbia University, where he was a John Jay National Scholar. He served as Principal Bass of the Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Lyon, where he played for over seven seasons, touring widely and making numerous recordings on labels including Decca, EMI, Erato, Nonesuch, Philips, and Virgin Classics.