Barbara Fitzgerald is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she earned both her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. As winner of the school's concerto competition, she had the honor of performing the Pichl Concerto for Double Bass with the Juilliard Philharmonia, an early highlight in a career that has since taken her around the world.

Barbara has lived in New York; Montreal, Canada; Perth, West Australia; and Virginia, performing with orchestras, giving solo recitals, and appearing as soloist in concerto performances throughout each of these locations. Most recently, she performed the Koussevitzky Concerto with the Reston Community Orchestra in November 2018, and again with the Summer Strings Orchestra in Glen Burnie, Maryland in August 2019.

Her international career has included a tour of Eastern Europe with the McGill Chamber Orchestra of Montreal, Canada, as well as a tenure as principal bass of the West Australia Symphony Orchestra in Perth. She has also performed in summer festivals across Europe and Mexico, and worked as a free-lance bassist in New York City before relocating to the Washington, D.C. area, where she continues to freelance today.

Barbara is a founding member of the Main Street Chamber Players and of Main Street Music Studios in Fairfax, VA, where she maintains an active double bass studio, passing her expertise on to the next generation of players.

She currently serves as director of Basstravaganza, a summer camp for bassists in Northern Virginia, and is a faculty member of Bass Works, a summer camp in Baltimore, Maryland, continuing her lifelong dedication to both performance and music education.