Bio : Artists

Meredith Johnson : Double Bass

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Principal Bassist, Meredith Johnson began studying the double bass with Edgar Meyer at Vanderbilt University while pursuing an undergraduate degree in English Literature. He received his Master of Music in Performance at Boston University where he studied with Todd Seeber and Edwin Barker of the Boston Symphony. Mr. Johnson has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe as a member of festival orchestras including:  Classical Winter in Jerusalem, Schleswig-Holstein, National Repertory Orchestra, Sarasota Chamber Music and Tanglewood Music Center. He was the recipient of the Henri Cohn Memorial Award during the 2000 Tanglewood festival season and was also a member of the New World Symphony from 1999-2002. During his tenure with the New World Symphony, he performed with the Charleston and Atlanta symphonies. From 2002-2004, he studied privately with Hal Robinson, principal bassist of the Philadelphia Orchestra; and was also the live-in nanny for Mr. Robinson’s son. During this time, he was also a member of the Haddonfield Symphony and the Philadelphia Pops orchestra. Since his appointment to the WSO in the fall of 2004, he has become an increasingly active soloist and chamber musician. He has appeared with many of Manitoba’s premier ensembles including Agassiz Chamber Music, GroundSwell, The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and The Winnipeg Chamber Music Society. Along with violinist Karl Stobbe, he was a featured soloist during the 2008-09 WSO season performing Giovanni Bottesini’s virtuosic Gran Duo for Violin, Double Bass and Orchestra. In 2010, he was guest curator for the season opening concert for the contemporary music organization GroundSwell, a performance that was broadcast nationally on CBC Radio’s The Signal. Currently, in addition to his duties with the WSO, he is principal bassist of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, a professional associate at Memorial University (NL), and a sessional instructor at the University of Manitoba. This is his eleventh summer at EMF.