Jeremy McCoy - Biography

Born in Toronto and raised in Ottawa, Canada, Jeremy McCoy received his earliest musical training on the piano and as a chorister. An introduction to double bass during middle school developed into a keen interest and, at age fourteen, he began private studies with David Currie. Summers spent at Interlochen and with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada included additional instruction with Oscar Zimmerman, Winston Budrow and Swedish bassist Torvald Fredin.

With assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts, Jeremy continued his studies with Roger Scott at the Curtis Institute of Music where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree. Serving as Principal of the Canadian Chamber Orchestra under Klaus Tennstedt and Curtis Symphony Orchestra performances with Leonard Bernstein and Sergiu Celibidache were standout experiences of his student years. At age twenty, Jeremy won a position with the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada. The following season he joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Over the course of thirty-five seasons, Jeremy played more than 5,000 Met performances under music directors James Levine and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, guest maestros Carlos Kleiber, Kirill Petrenko, Seiji Ozawa, Ricardo Muti, Daniele Gatti, Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, Daniel Barenboim and many others. He retired from his position as Assistant Principal double bass in May, 2020.

Apart from his orchestral career, Jeremy has been presented in recital at Lincoln Center, on CBC Radio and at the 2013 International Society of Bassists Convention. He has performed as concerto soloist with the Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, the Louisiana Philharmonic, Classical Tahoe, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and Musica Viva of New York. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with members of the Arditti, Borodin, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard and Tokyo string quartets and with many other distinguished artists. His summer festival appearances include Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, Banff, Classical Tahoe, Rockport Music, Kneisel Hall, Grand Tetons, Bowdoin, Festival Napa Valley, Close Encounters With Music, Lincoln Center Festival, Affinis Festival (Japan), Appalachian Summer Festival, Ottawa International Music Festival, Music and Beyond, Music Festival of the Hamptons and Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival.
A founding member of the contemporary music groups Sequitur and Ensemble Sospeso, and frequent collaborator with Speculum Musicae, Jeremy has presented many premiere performances and recorded chamber works by eminent modern masters such as Elliott Carter, David Del Tredici and Thomas Ades.

Jeremy has recorded orchestral works for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, London-Decca, Phillips, Erato and CBC Records and chamber works for Koch Classics, Albany, Naxos, CRI, Mode Records and Concord Jazz. As a studio session player, he has performed solo or as section leader on dozens of feature film soundtracks and has recorded string tracks for a diverse group of popular artists including Bruce Springsteen, David Byrne, Lou Reed, Sting and Natalie Merchant. Jeremy’s two solo recordings have garnered both popular and critical praise. An eclectic collection of duos, Dialogues with Double Bass, was released on Bridge Records in 2005. Baroque Legacy (2012), featuring the gamba sonatas of JS Bach, is available on MSR Classics.
Jeremy currently serves on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, Bard College Conservatory of Music, The Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, and The Bowdoin International Music Festival. Previous faculty positions include Columbia and Penn State universities, Queen’s College CUNY and The National Youth Orchestra of Canada. He has presented master classes at leading schools of music in the United States, Canada, Sweden and Japan and has contributed articles to Strings Magazine. His institutional and private students hold positions with orchestras throughout North America, Europe, Australia and East Asia and have made careers as public school or college-level music educators.

Jeremy performs on an exceptional instrument made in 1749 by the Venetian luthier Domenico Busan and on double basses by Alfred Meyer of Markneukirchen, Germany (1946) and Tetsu Suzuki, Cremona, Italy (2015). He uses strings from Pirastro.

Bio (250 words)

Bio (400 words)