Colin Corner was appointed principal bass of the Oregon Symphony in 2017 after serving two seasons in the same capacity with the Atlanta Symphony. Currently principal bass of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, he has also served as principal of the Rochester Philharmonic, and has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, Vancouver (BC) Symphony, and the Louisiana Philharmonic.
Colin won the 2003 ISB Orchestral Competition, which led to a oneweek internship with the Detroit Symphony, and placed third in that competition in 2001. He was also a recipient of the Interlochen Double Bass Class Studio Award in 1997, which has since been renamed The Colin Corner Award in his honor.
A graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, he received his training at Indiana University as a student of Lawrence Hurst. An avid teacher himself, Colin has served on the faculty of Morehouse College, and has been a Visiting Artist at the University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, he was a founding faculty member at the NorCal Orchestra Studies Academy of the Golden Gate Bass Camp in San Francisco. Currently, he teaches at Portland State as an Adjunct Instructor.
Colin also counts playing jazz and many different styles of music as a passion outside the orchestra. In Portland he has worked with Ron Steen and Michael Kissinger among others. He also has played with singer/songwriter Noah Kite. Proud of his instruments, he plays on a bass made by Joseph Hill, c. 1780, and a bass made by Albert Jakstadt in 2001.