Joel Quarrington

Reviewing Joel Quarrington’s debut recital for the International Society of Bassists Oklahoma City convention in June of 2007, England’s Double Bassist magazine said, “his performance was mesmerizing - his trademark bel canto playing style brought an otherworldly quality to Bottesini’s Elegy in D…impeccable articulation, a rich tonal palette, absolute control and crystalline clarity.”  Reviews such as this have confirmed his reputation as one of today’s leading double bassists.

Born in Toronto, Joel Quarrington began playing the bass at the age of eleven and is a winner of the Geneva International Competition.

For over thirty years Joel has served as the Principal Double Bassist of many ensembles including the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

Joel Quarrington teaches at Montreal’s McGill University and in the summers, at the Orford Arts Centre (Quebec), where his master classes have attracted players from around the world.  He has been a guest teacher for the Danish Bass Society and Beijing’s China Conservatory, as well as the Australian String Academy and London’s Royal Academy of Music.

Joel Quarrington is also an avid chamber musician and has performed with many of the world's leading string quartets including the Orford, Vermeer, Cleveland, Colorado, St. Lawrence, Allegri, Artis, Leipzig and Tokyo Quartets. He is particularly honoured to have been a part of a 1982 recording session with the legendary Glenn Gould for the soundtrack of Timothy Findley's The Wars. Written for solo cello and bass and based on Brahms’ Intermezzi, this turned out to be the last music composed by Gould before his untimely death.

Joel is a regular performer with the Pinchas Zukerman Chamber Players. Their recording of Schubert’s Trout Quintet with Yefim Bronfman has been received with great acclaim.  Other solo releases have been on the Crystal, CBC and Naxos labels.

In April of 2005 Joel had the honour of playing the world premier John Harbison’s Concerto for Bass Viol with the Toronto Symphony and Hugh Wolf.

He performs on an Italian bass made in 1630 by the Italian master, Santo Paolo Maggini.

He is an enthusiastic advocate of the historical practice of tuning the bass in fifths (CGDA, an octave lower than the cello) rather than the customary fourths. He believes fifths tuning leads to clearer and more accurate performance in all ranges of the bass, as well as greater tonal richness.