Meaghan Williams
Double Bass
Raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Meaghan completed her undergraduate degree in performance at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto with virtuoso bassist Joel Quarrington. During that time, she also had the privilege of studying with bass legend Gary Karr. Meaghan earned her Konzertexamen with Michael Wolf at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. She also attended the Carl-Flesch Akademie in Baden-Baden, Germany, where she studied with Finnish double bass phenomenon Janne Saksala, 1st Principal Bass of Berlin Philharmonic.
Following her studies, Meaghan performed with the Neue Lausitzer Philharmonie in Germany, and she was a founding member of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Symphony Orchestra in Japan. Since returning to Canada, Meaghan has performed with ensembles from coast to coast including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony, and the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. Meaghan is the Principal Bass of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.
A believer in diversity and innovation, Meaghan enjoys working with living composers and expanding the repertoire for double bass. She has premiered Concerto for Cello, Bass, Suona & Dizi by Dr. Ning Wang (Beijing) with the Nu:BC Collective in 2011 and Placentia Bay: Summer of 1941 for double bass and orchestra by Mark Haney with the Okanagan Symphony in November 2019. Meaghan is a passionate advocate of Canadian design and craftsmanship and performs on a double bass made by Peter Mach (Gatineau, QC) and with bows made by Reid Hudson (Duncan, BC) and Max Kasper (Halifax, NS) as well as a double bass of Italian origin from c.1750.
Meaghan is grateful to have been supported throughout her career with grants from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, the BC Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. She teaches at Capilano University, privately both in person and online, and at the West Coast Amateur Musicians Society course in Squamish, BC each summer.