Mark Gilenson is a double bass player and pedagogue.

Since 2019 he has served as Head of Strings and International Relations at the Jerusalem Music Centre's National Excellence Programs for Outstanding Young Musicians, of which he is himself a graduate. In this role he directs the JMC’s international masterclass programme, leads the string section of the Young Israel Philharmonic, and oversees the JMC's work with string teachers, conservatories and music schools across the country.

Since 2026 he also directs the JMC Integrated Music Program for Gifted Students, a new framework in which theory, composition and performance are taught as one whole in order to enable students to become “native speakers” of music.

A passionate teacher, Mark heads the bass studio at the Raanana Pais Music Center, and has been the resident bass coach of the Young Israel Philharmonic for over a decade.

As a soloist, Mark is a Classicum artist, and performs in intimate recitals of unique programs, which bring to light rare original bass repertoire in performances which center on extemporization, expressiveness and unmediated emotional communication with the audience.

In the years 2015-2019 Mark performed regularly with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Chambre Philharmonique in Paris and Capriccio Baroque Orchestra. Today he regularly performs with diverse ensembles, including the Israel Philharmonic and Israeli Mozart Orchestra. 

Mark graduated with an MA in Performance Alte Musik from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Musikakademie Basel, FHNW), specializing in the performance of 19th-century music and its performance practices; his thesis examined the connection between the musical text and the expressive gestures of performers, drawing on historical documents and early recordings. He was an acknowledged contributor to a study of improvisation and expressivity published in Frontiers in Psychology (Dolan et al., 2018), and has taken part in international research projects with Imperial College and the Guildhall School in London.

He is currently pursuing a PhD at Bar-Ilan University, where his research develops interpretive agency in young musicians, an approach to teaching that treats music as a language and underpins the integrated programme he directs at the JMC.

Born in Riga, Latvia, Mark began his studies with his Grandmother Haviva Dimenstein, one of the leading violin pedagogues in the country. After immigrating to Israel, Mark began studying the double bass, and over the years studied with eminent teachers - Teddy Kling (Israel Philharmonic), Heinrich Braun (Bavarian Radio Symphony), and David Sinclair (Schola Cantorum Basel).

Mark plays an 1880 Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy double bass.