Xavier Foley, double bass, is known for communicating his virtuosity and passion for music on the double bass, which is rarely presented as a solo instrument. He is a first-prize winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions (2016), winner of the Sphinx Competition (2014), and a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant (2018).
Foley has performed recitals at Shriver Hall, Rockport Music, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, National Gallery of Art, and the Harriman-Jewell Series. An avid chamber musician, he has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Marlboro Music Festival, Tippet Rise Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, and Skaneateles Festival.
As a composer, Foley’s “For Justice and Peace” was premiered by the Sphinx Organization at Carnegie Hall in October 2022 and co-commissioned by both organizations. It has since been performed by such orchestras as the Atlanta Symphony, New West Symphony, Oregon Symphony, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Foley’s bass concerto “Soul Bass,” commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony, was premiered by the orchestra in March 2022 and will be performed again this season with the Baltimore Symphony under their recently appointed conductor, Jonathon Heyward (who is an alum of Boston Conservatory at Berklee).
Foley’s upcoming commissions include Santa Fe Pro Musica, The Cabrillo Festival in conjunction with the Mahler Foundation, the Sphinx Organization co-commissioned with Carnegie Hall and the New World Symphony, Chicago Symphony’s Music Now (curated by Jessie Montomery), and the Oregon Symphony, where he has been named artist-in-residence for the next three seasons.
A native of Marietta, Georgia, Foley is an alum of the Perlman Music Program, and earned his Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music under the tutelage of Edgar Meyer and Hal Robinson. The double bass he performs on was crafted by Rumano Solano.
