Double bass leader Joseph Conyers to receive CIM’s 2025 Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts degree

Playing in the lowest range of the musical staff, double bassist Joseph Conyers has risen to the top of his field.  

Hence his upcoming award from the Cleveland Institute of Music.  

On Monday, CIM announced that Conyers, principal bass of The Philadelphia Orchestra and the group’s newly appointed Education and Community Ambassador, will receive its 2025 Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Conyers will accept the award and deliver the keynote address at CIM’s Commencement proceedings Saturday, May 17. 

“This is a tremendous honor, and one I don’t take lightly, particularly from a school like CIM, which has such a long history of producing the finest talent,” said Conyers. “I don’t have any other words.”  

What Conyers has in spades is passion. A champion for all aspects of classical music both on and off stage, he fully and actively embodies CIM’s long-held dedication to service and engagement.  

As a performer, Conyers has been principal bass in Philadelphia since 2023 and a member of that orchestra since 2010. He is also music director of Philadelphia’s All-City Orchestra and a regular guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.   

Off stage, he is a sought-after teacher at The Juilliard School, with former students playing in orchestras all over the U.S. and Europe. He also founded Project 440, a nonprofit using music to teach life skills, and serves as artistic director of the Dubhe Ensemble, a chamber music collective fostering authentic community connections.  

“I have this tremendous desire to relate our art to the world around us and our communities,” Conyers said. “I feel that what music can provide people goes far beyond the notes on the page.” 

As an HDMA recipient, Conyers will be in excellent company. CIM’s Awards Committee – a group composed of faculty, staff, and Trustees – has granted honorary degrees almost every year since 1965, and the list of previous recipients includes Pierre Boulez, Elly Ameling, Marian Anderson, and Darius Milhaud.  

The most recent HDMA recipient was violinist Jennifer Koh, and at the same ceremony with Conyers in May, CIM also will grant a Distinguished Alumni Award to Grammy Award-winning conductor and violinist John McLaughlin Williams (BM ’97, MM ’97) and an Alumni Achievement Award to noted violist and Richmond Symphony Artistic Advisor Jennifer Arnold (BM ’03, PS ’05).   

The HDMA is not Conyers’ first significant award. He also holds a Medal of Excellence from the Sphinx Organization and the C. Hartman Kuhn Award, the highest honor from The Philadelphia Orchestra. He also has been one of Musical America’s 30 Top Professionals and was the inaugural winner of the Young Alumni Award from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Harold Robinson and Edgar Meyer.   

“The choice of Joseph Conyers for an HDMA practically made itself,” said Scott Harrison, CIM’s Executive Vice President & Provost.  

“On the basis of his incredible performance career alone, Joseph would have been a worthy candidate, but he’s also a renowned teacher and a champion for change in so many other arenas. CIM is proud to grant him its highest public honor.”