Our Team
Nina DeCesare (she/her)
Founder and Executive Director
Nina DeCesare is one of the most versatile and exciting double bassists of her generation, regularly balancing her time between her position at the Baltimore Symphony, her faculty job at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins, and her appearances around the country, as a masterclass clinician and soloist. Nina is regularly invited to perform with many of the highest caliber ensembles in the country, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She is a leading advocate for gender equity in the bass community and recently launched The Artemis Bass Initiative, a nonprofit that provides mentorship, professional development, and community to women and nonbinary bassists as well as raises awareness nationwide through seminars.
Nina’s energetic and passionate approach to solo playing is highly sought after and she has a unique approach to the Bach Cello Suites after recording all 36 movements for social media at the beginning of Covid in a project inspired by Alisa Weilerstein’s #36daysofBach. She is a recipient of François Rabbath’s Certificates of Teaching and Performance and a graduate of Rice University, where she studied with Paul Ellison. The multifaceted nature of her career and her work as an advocate makes her a well-rounded and compassionate teacher and she’s presented masterclasses and workshops at the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute, the New World Symphony, the National Orchestral Institute, and Domaine Forget Academy.
Associate Professor of Bass Susan Cahill has been a bassist with the Colorado Symphony since 1997. Before joining the symphony, where she held section and acting assistant positions, Cahill was on the faculty of the University of Denver and principal bass of the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans. She is also a member of the faculty of the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, a member of the Grand Tetons Music Festival and a guest musician with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
As a solo and chamber performer, Cahill has performed with and is a member of several ensembles. As a founding member of Grande Orquesta Navarre and member of Extasis, she has performed across the country as well as internationally. Cahill has an active teaching career and has taught and presented master classes at numerous institutions and conventions worldwide. As a member of the faculty of the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, she is known for her teaching and coaching of the double bass chamber repertoire as well as her cutting-edge performances of the bass solo and chamber music literature.
Cahill has appeared as a guest star on the PBS Masterworks series “Now Hear This” with Stewart Goodyear and host Scott Yoo. With her writing partner, improvisational actor Jon Wilkerson, she has created memorable works that have accumulated many YouTube views. You can also view her many exciting chamber and solo YouTube videos made as a member of Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo.
Cahill performs on basses by Nick Lloyd (circa 2015) and Guiseppe Santori (circa 1824) as well as beautiful bows by E. Sartory and Evan Orman of Denver, Colorado.
Susan Cahill
Board Chair
Nicholas Greer-Young (they/them)
Seminar Series Director
Nicholas Greer-Young (they/them) is a bassist and pedagogue from Royal Oak, Michigan. They have performed extensively with orchestras in Michigan and Ohio and can be heard playing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on the soundtrack of Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Bankruptcy of Detroit. Other engagements include performances with the Richmond Symphony, New Orchestra of Washington, and Appalachian Chamber Music Festival.
As a teacher, Nick serves as a Lecturer of Music at Washington and Lee University and has coached the bass sections of the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra and Columbus Symphony Chamber Strings Youth Orchestra. Their students have been awarded superior ratings at OMEA Solo and Ensemble adjudicated events as well as the International Society of Bassists’ George Vance & George Wellington Young Bassist Scholarship.
Nick is currently a doctoral student at James Madison University studying double bass performance with Sam Suggs and teaching courses in bass pedagogy. They completed their Bachelor of Music in Double Bass Performance at Bowling Green State University, studying with Robert Rohwer, and their Master of Arts in String Pedagogy at The Ohio State University. Additionally, Nick has studied at the Académie Internationale Domaine Forget de Charlevoix, privately with Detroit Symphony Principal Bass, Kevin Brown, and was a fellow at the Sarasota Music Festival during the summers of 2023 and 2024.
Ali Remondini (she/her)
Development Director
Ali Remondini (she/her) is an American double bassist and educator based in Montreal. With a deep appreciation for non-western and non-traditional classical music, she is dedicated to performing works by new and underrepresented composers. Her diverse musical background—spanning classical, jazz, Afro-Cuban, samba, and traditional Ghanaian music—shapes her dynamic approach to both performance and teaching.
Ali maintains a private bass studio and freelances throughout Montreal. In addition to her work as a performer and educator, she serves as a Development Officer for the McGill Faculty of Education, where she works in philanthropy to support various educational initiatives.
Beyond her role in development, Ali is passionate about advancing equity within the arts and advocating for equitable access to arts education. She seeks to create inclusive opportunities for underrepresented voices in music and the broader arts community.
She holds a Master of Music from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, where she studied with Ali Kian Yazdanfar and Eric Chappell, and a Bachelor of Music from the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, studying under Mark Urness.
Giana DiNatale, an electric and double bassist, graduated from New York University with a Master of Music degree, Focus in String Studies, studying Double Bass with Gregg August. At NYU, she was Principal Bassist of the NYU O1 Symphony Orchestra, and performed in orchestral and jazz ensembles. Originally from Connecticut, Giana graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. At UConn, she was a Principal Bassist in the University Symphony Orchestra, as well as the UConn Jazz Ensemble.
Most notably, Giana was a frequent substitute for Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera, performed with Barry Manilow at Radio City Music Hall, is a member of the Fort Greene Orchestra, and was the principal bassist for the Sinfonietta’s performance of "Barbie The Movie: In Concert" and “Avatar, Live in Concert.” She enjoys playing in a variety of big bands and orchestras, spanning classical, Broadway, cabaret, and chamber music.
Giana DiNatale (she/her)
Marketing Director
Sarah Wager (she/her)
Mentorship Program Director
Sarah Wager is a double bassist who currently holds a one-year position with the Phoenix Symphony. She has previously appeared with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the San Diego Symphony, and in the fall of 2023, won the audition for Associate Principal Bass of the Hawai’i Symphony. Sarah has performed with Music Academy of the West, Sarasota Music Festival, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, and Lucerne Contemporary Music Festival, which she attended for two summers.
Sarah received her BM from Boston University under the tutelage of Boston Symphony Principal bassist Edwin Barker, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2021. During her undergraduate studies, Sarah played with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, where she was co-principal for the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 seasons. She also appeared with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and the Brookline Symphony Orchestra. She attended Domaine Forget for two summers; after her second summer, she was invited to write an article for the International Society of Bassists magazine about her time as a student there.
Following her undergraduate studies, Sarah attended the University of Southern California under the tutelage of Los Angeles Philharmonic bassist and renowned pedagogue David Moore. She received her MM degree in 2023 and began a Graduate Certificate program. Passionate about creating new works for the double bass, Sarah worked with three different composers in Los Angeles to workshop and create new compositions. During her time in Los Angeles, Sarah also helped organize house concerts to showcase her peers and artists in the community, one of which raised money for nonprofits that specialize in reproductive care.
Susan Hagen (she/her)
Board Vice Chair
Susan Hagen is the first-ever female principal double bassist the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. In addition, Susan has been a first call substitute bassist with both and the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and the Boston Pops Orchestra (Boston Pops) for the past 18 seasons, performing over 600 concerts with the BSO and almost 1000 with the Boston Pops, as well as being on multiple recordings with each orchestra.
Susan’s solo performances are frequent & varied. In November of 2022, she gave the US premiere of Simón García’s Concerto for Amplified Double Bass & String Orchestra and has performed it 6 more times since. Since March 2020, Susan has premiered and recorded more than 130 pieces, many of which were premieres and written for/dedicated to her. Susan has also teamed up with her father, guitarist/electric bassist Roy Hagen, arranging and performing music of many genres - from French art songs to current pop tunes – and raising money for charities in over a dozen recitals.
Susan has performed as a soloist, recitalist, and clinician at several International Society of Bassists’ Conventions. In April 2024 she performed on the famed Koussevitzky bass, on loan by Gary Karr, for the “Koussevitzky Connections” – a 10-concert and multiple-workshop tour throughout New England in honor of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Serge Koussevitzky. Susan has also performed & recorded with electric bassists Steve Bailey, Victor Wooten, and doubler John Patitucci.
Susan recently published a second edition of her book of Warm Ups for double bassists called “BASSics of Bass” which can be purchased on her website. She is on the faculty at Berklee College of Music, is a frequent lecturer at Harvard University, and has been a clinician at many festivals. She is an endorsed artist for PJBass amps as well as Remic Microphones and was featured in “Strad Magazine” in April of 2025.
Maggie Lin (she/her)
Maggie Lin is a classical double bassist and currently serves as the Donor Database Manager at Merit School of Music, a nonprofit dedicated to making high-quality music education accessible to Chicago youth. She holds a Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music under the instruction of Scott Dixon and a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University in Double Bass Performance, where she studied with Andrew Raciti.
From 2019 to 2021, Maggie was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, where she performed and participated in community engagement initiatives at Symphony Center and throughout Chicago. Although her primary focus is now in nonprofit administration, she remains active in the music world through her private double bass studio.
Beyond her professional pursuits, Maggie enjoys cooking, baking, and exploring creative hobbies like cross stitching and needle felting.