Joel Quarrington

About

The artist

Joel Quarrington is a classical double bassist, soloist, orchestral musician, and teacher based in Hatley, Quebec. Born in Toronto, he began formal double bass studies at thirteen and won the CBC Talent Competition and a prize at the Geneva International Music Competition early in his career. He later served as principal double bassist with the Canadian Opera Company, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra. His artist-operated website documents more than four decades of orchestral, chamber, solo, and teaching work. It also presents his advocacy for tuning the double bass in fifths, an approach he uses to pursue greater clarity, intonation, and tonal range. Quarrington's exact Spotify identity contains ten primary album and single containers from November 1997 through October 2025. Nine are provider-classified albums and one is a single. The catalogue includes two Bottesini volumes with pianist Andrew Burashko, Garden Scene, An die Musik, Rossini's six sonatas for strings, The Music of Don Thompson, Bach's sixth cello suite arranged for double bass, and the 2025 Chandos recording Chamber Works by Ernest Kanitz with the ARC Ensemble. Garden Scene won the 2010 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber Ensemble. Brothers in Brahms later received the Prix Opus for romantic classical album, while the International Society of Bassists recognized Quarrington for both solo and orchestral performance. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2023 and invested in September 2025. The Governor General's current honours record places him in Hatley, Quebec. Current professional activity is supported independently by the 2025 recording, 2026 Orford teaching activity, and Festival of the Sound's 2026 program in Ontario. The official website offers a mailing-list page but no clearly published professional inquiry route, so MusicList does not infer or republish contact details. Spotify media is displayed live with provider attribution and a monogram fallback.