Joel Quarrington

Joel is internationally renowned, as a virtuoso exponent of the double bass.

For over thirty years, Joel Quarrington has served as the Principal Double Bassist for many orchestras including the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and most recently the London Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Toronto, Joel began his formal studies of the double bass when he was thirteen. He won the Geneva International Competition and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s National Talent Competition.

A devoted teacher, Joel is a professor at the Conservatoire de Musique of Montreal and also at McGill University, and a visiting artist at the Academy. He has been a guest teacher at schools all around the world and he holds annual masterclasses in the summers at Quebec's Orford Arts Centre. Joel has made several solo recordings, which have won both the prestigious JUNO and Opus Prizes. Joel has received a Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and for Outstanding Orchestral Performance from the International Society of Bassists.

He performs on an Italian bass made in 1666 by the Italian master, Santo Paolo Maggini.

Image: Fred Cattroll