William Schrickel

William Schrickel, Assistant Principal Bass of the Minnesota Orchestra, joined that ensemble in 1976. He has appeared as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra three times, once under the baton of Andrew Litton and twice with Leonard Slatkin, performing music of John Tartaglia and Giovanni Bottesini. He also participated in the Minnesota Orchestra's Adopt-A-School music education program from 1993 to 2012, performing for and speaking to elementary school students to prepare them to attend their first live orchestra concert.

Schrickel is also active as a conductor. Since 2000 he has been music director of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, which he led in the world premiere of Dominick Argento’s Ode to the West Wind in 2014. With the MSO, he gave the first performance of Osmo Vänskä’s The Bridge in 2008. He was music director of the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra from 2002 to 2008, and during the 2005-06 season he served as an assistant conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.

A dedicated chamber musician, Schrickel was a member of the Hill House Chamber Players in St. Paul, with whom he recorded music of Astor Piazzolla. He was a founding member of the Minneapolis Artists Ensemble (MAE), a chamber music group that performed at the Walker Art Center and commissioned 17 new works over seven seasons. His chamber music recordings with the MAE include music of Mozart, Hummel, Proto, Larsen, Ives, Aubart and Tartaglia on the GM and Innova labels. He has also recorded works of Skrowaczewski and Vieira as a guest artist with Ensemble Capriccio on the Innova and Paulus labels.

Schrickel studied bass with Joseph Guastafeste at Northwestern University and conducting with Thomas Trimborn.