- Joel Quarrington
Joel Quarrington (born
January 15 ,1955 ), is a Canadiandouble bass player, soloist, teacher and is regardedFact|date=August 2008 as one of the world's best and foremost double bassists.He was born in
Toronto , and began playing the double bass at the age of eleven in order to complete a bluegrass trio with his brothers,Paul Quarrington and Tony Quarrington. At the age of thirteen, he began to study withThomas Monohan , who was at the time the principal bassist of theToronto Symphony Orchestra . He also studied under Peter Madgett, who is still a member of the TSO. After he received a degree in music from the University of Toronto, he went on to Austria and Italy to study under two renowned double bass pedagogues, respectivelyLudwig Streicher andFranco Petracchi .Quarrington has won numerous music competitions, including first prize in the CBC talent festival in 1976, and second prize in the Geneva International Competition in 1978 (first prize was not awarded that year). He played as principal bass with the
Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra between 1979 and 1988, and the Canadian Opera Company between 1989 and 1991, and then proceeded to become principal bass of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Since September 2006, he has been the Principal Bass of theNational Arts Centre Orchestra . Quarrington has played concerti with many North American orchestras, including theWinnipeg Symphony Orchestra , the TSO and the NACO withPinchas Zukerman . In April 2006, he played the world premiere ofJohn Harbison 's double bass concerto, which was commissioned by theInternational Society of Bassists .Quarrington plays on a
1630 Maggini double bass, and is well known for his unusual practice of tuning his bass in intervals of fifths, like a cello, but an octave lower.He has made three solo recordings, one, on
CBC Records , containing a wide variety of pieces for the solo double bass with orchestra, and two others, onNaxos Records . The first Naxos release contains works for double bass and piano byGiovanni Bottesini . The second disc, also featuring the music of Bottesini, was released in 2008. For that recording Quarrington collaborated with such artists as clarinetist Jim Campbell, soprano Monica Whicher, and American bassistHal Robinson , principal bassist of thePhiladelphia Orchestra .His wife is Carole Sirois a cellist well known for her long activity in music like Montreal Symphonic Orchestra.Fact|date=August 2008
Joel Quarrington teaches at Montreal's
McGill University .External links
* [http://www.joelquarrington.com/ Joel Quarrington website]
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