Hilda Cowie
Principal
Double Bass
Bassist Hilda Cowie has always been surrounded by music. The daughter of a bassist and a trombonist, her path to a career in music was a natural one. She was lucky to come up in the Halifax City Schools Music program, which provided strong choral and orchestral instrument training. As a teen she began studying the bass with her mother, a member of Symphony Nova Scotia and continued as a student of renowned bassist Joel Quarrington at the University of Toronto and the RCM Glenn Gould School.
Hilda is an active member of the Canadian music scene and has performed coast to coast in various capacities. Before joining the ESO she was a member of the National Arts Centre Orchestra for over 20 seasons. She has held positions as principal bass of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Kingston Symphony Orchestra and now the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with major Canadian orchestras including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, Symphony Nova Scotia, and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal.
Hilda can be heard on recordings by the NAC Orchestra, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and the Banff Centre’s Gruppo Montebello and has performed in solo recital in Ottawa, Halifax, and Toronto. She enjoys frequently performing chamber music with friends and colleagues.
Hilda and her partner and young son moved to Edmonton in 2022 and look forward to discovering all it has to offer.
