Leon Bosch is a virtuoso double bassist acknowledged to be one of the most influential players of his generation and is particularly known for his expressive bel canto

Bel canto

Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...

 style. Whilst currently holding the post of principal double bass of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, he is also known as a chamber musician, recitalist, concerto soloist, teacher, and program consultant.

Born in Cape Town, though now a British citizen, Bosch graduated from the University of Cape Town

University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...

 before continuing his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music

Royal Northern College of Music

The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...

 in Manchester. Since his 1984 London solo debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra

Philharmonia Orchestra

The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...

 , Bosch has appeared as a concerto soloist with many distinguished musicians, including Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman is a world-renowned violinist, violist, and conductor. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works...

, Sir Charles Groves and Nicholas Kraemer

Nicholas Kraemer

Nicholas Kraemer is a British harpsichordist and conductor. Kraemer began his career as a harpsichordist...

.

Highlights of his chamber music partnerships have included engagements with the Lindsay, Belcea and Brodsky String Quartets, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, I Musicanti, and the Moscow Virtuosi. He has worked with such pianists as Maria João Pires

Maria João Pires

-Musical studies:Her first recital was at the age of five, and at the age of seven she was already playing Mozart Piano Concertos publicly. Two years later she received Portugal's top prize for young musicians. In the following years, she studied with Professor Campos Coelho at the Lisbon...

, Mikhail Rudy, Vladimir Ovchinikov, Peter Donohoe, Martin Roscoe

Martin Roscoe

Martin Roscoe is an English classical pianist. He teaches piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the Department of Keyboard Studies. He performs as a concerto soloist, as a recitalist and as a chamber musician....

 and, most recently on CD, the Vienna-based Korean pianist Sung-Suk Kang.

Bosch has played a significant part in, and received acclaim for, the exploration of challenging and little-known music for double bass both in live performance and on disc. He has been responsible for a number of important first performances including "Pueblo", a commission from John McCabe

John McCabe

John McCabe may refer to:*John McCabe , British composer and classical pianist*John McCabe , Shakespearean scholar and biographer*John McCabe , author and geneticist...

, several works by Allan Stephenson>, and music by the South African composers Hendrik Hofmeyr

Hendrik Hofmeyr

Hendrik Pienaar Hofmeyr is among the younger generation of South African composers. Born in Cape Town, he furthered his studies in Italy during 10 years of self-imposed exile as a conscientious objector. While there, he won the South African Opera Competition with The Fall of the House of Usher...

 and Paul Hanmer

Paul Hanmer

Paul Hanmer is a South African composer, pianist and one of its foremost jazz musicians.In 1987 Hanmer moved to Johannesburg where he formed Unofficial Language with drummer Ian Herman and bassist Pete Sklair...

.

Bosch's experiences under South Africa's apartheid regime have ensured he has a keen interest in social and political issues; he holds a masters degree in Intelligence and International Relations from the University of Salford

University of Salford

The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...

.