Initially trained as a mainstream orchestral double bassist, Heather Miller Lardin found her true artistic home in historical performance. In this world, bassists shape the music from a "generic" bass line, choosing the notes that best support the harmony and propel the ensemble forward. Known in the 18th century as the violone, the historical double bass reinforces the basso continuo an octave below instruments such as cello or bassoon, enriching the texture with clarity and momentum, without weighing it down.
Historical bass playing demands a deep understanding of regional instruments and their tunings. Lardin performs on a range of violoni: from the six-string instrument familiar to early Bach, to the five-string models used by Haydn, to the popular three-string tunings of the 19th century.. She brings these varied colors to her work as principal bassist of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society and, closer to her Philadelphia home, with Tempesta di Mare and Brandywine Baroque. With flutist Steven Zohn, she co-directs Night Music, a Philadelphia-based ensemble exploring music of the Revolutionary and Romantic eras. Zohn and Lardin co-founded the Philadelphia Bach Collective with soprano Rebecca Myers to present free midday cantata performances in Center City.
A committed educator, Lardin joined the faculty of Juilliard Historical Performance in 2025. She also teaches Baroque double bass at New England Conservatory, directs the Temple University Early Music Ensemble, and serves on the faculty of several summer festivals. Her original pedagogical materials include a self-paced Baroque Double Bass course for discoverdoublebass.com and her popular "Baroque Bass Bash" workshops, offered both online and in person. Recent masterclasses have taken her to Peabody Conservatory, Yale University, James Madison University, and Oberlin Conservatory.
Lardin has received the International Society of Bassists Special Recognition Award in both Historical Performance and Scholarship. She studied with Roger Scott at the Curtis Institute of Music and with Homer Mensch at Juilliard, and worked privately with Harold Robinson. She holds a DMA in Historical Performance Practice from Cornell University, where she studied viola da gamba and violone with John Hsu.