A trailblazing artist and Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, Xavier Foley is transforming the role of the double bass in 21st-century music. Equally acclaimed as a virtuoso performer and composer, he is one of a rare group of instrumentalists whose own compositions form the heart of his programs. With jaw-dropping technique, soulful expression, and a bold artistic vision, Foley brings new life to an instrument rarely heard center stage. 

Foley has composed several groundbreaking works. Among them is Soul Bass, a concerto commissioned and premiered by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Jonathan Heyward, and For Justice and Peace for violin, double bass, and string orchestra—praised for its powerful message and genre-blending style— co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Sphinx Organization, and the New World Symphony. He has performed his concertos with the Cabrillo Festival, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Sphinx Virtuosi, Kansas City Symphony, New West Symphony, Orchestra Lumos, Nashville Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.

Committed to expanding the repertoire for solo double bass and chamber ensembles, his diverse catalog of compositions explores the instrument’s full range of expressive and technical possibilities.