A talented improvisor and performer, award-winning violinist Meredith Bates is known for her elegant and virtuosic sound.
She has spent most of the past twenty years recording and performing around the world in celebrated ensembles, such as Pugs and Crows (JUNO Award 2013, West Coast Music Award 2016), Gentle Party, and projects led by Vancouver music icons Tony Wilson, Ford Pier, Leah Abramson, and Peggy Lee. She is a collaborator at heart and relishes any opportunity to join forces with other likeminded artists.
Recently, Meredith has been focusing on her own projects. She has founded a new instrumental sextet Like the Mind, with renowned improvisors from Canada and Sweden (Peggy Lee, Lisa Ullen, Lisen Rylander Love, Elisa Thorn, and Emma Augustsson).
In the Fall 2020, Meredith’s artist residency at Western Front in Vancouver culminated with the composition and performance of an immersive multi-disciplinary work called Sound Migrations.
In December 2020, she released an epic ambient and experimental debut solo album, If Not Now, produced by Chris Gestrin on Phonometrograph. Featuring layers of processed violin and viola, it is inspired by our relationship to one another and our natural surroundings.
Meredith lives on unceded Coast Salish territory. She is the artistic director of the Vancouver Improvised Arts Society (VIAS), a non-profit organization aimed at supporting the creation and presentation of improvised works by womxn, BIPOC, and LGBTQ2S+ artists.
Vancouver Improvised Arts Society
In another life, Meredith is the artistic director of a non-profit arts org called the Vancouver Improvised Arts Society. Their goal is to support the creation and presentation of improvised art by womxn, BIPOC, and LGTBQ2+ in whatever way they can. They want to hear the voices of artists from marginalized communities, bear witness to those creations, and help to guide their scene toward a more diverse and equitable future where all voices are represented and respected as equal.
Visit their website for more info.
