ISB Al Fisher Scholarship Grant — Past Recipients

2024 — Broner McCoy

Broner McCoy of Evanston, Illinois has been selected as the first recipient of the ISB Al Fisher Scholarship Grant.

Broner is a first year graduate student at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music, where he studies with Andrew Raciti. He is also an aspiring bass bow maker and already has bows being played in several professional orchestras. He plans to use the grant to help keep his bow rehairing services and sell his bows at accessible prices to fellow students. "I believe finding ethically sourced materials for bow making is very important, from finding quality, legal sourced pernambucco to sustainably sourced bow hair," says Broner. "The Al Fisher grant will not only help me purchase the supplies, tools, and instruction needed to continue my bow making, but will also allow me to keep my bows and rehairs at an accessible price for the students in my community."

The selection committee congratulates all of the applicants for the compelling cases they made describing how the grant would help them along their musical paths. Based on the responses received, the future of the double bass is in very capable hands!

The ISB Al Fisher Scholarship Grant is offered to bass students between the ages of 16 and 25 on the date the grant is awarded. The grant may be used for any purpose related to furthering the recipient's education and musical development.

The recipient of The ISB Al Fisher Scholarship Grant Scholarship will be currently enrolled in an educational institution, studying music with bass as the recipient's primary instrument.

The $5,000 USD scholarship grant is made possible by a generous bequest from the estate of longtime ISB member Al Fisher (1932-2022), who played for years with the Evanston Symphony Orchestra. Al gave recitals across the Midwest and eastern U.S., including a solo recital at Carnegie Hall in 1973. He released a pioneering solo bass album, Al Fisher Plays Bass, in 1974.

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