Philadelphia native Joanne DiMaria Bates is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Philadelphia Orchestra principal bassist Roger M. Scott. Mrs. Bates also studied with Boston Symphony principal bass Edwin Barker and assistant principal Lawrence Wolfe at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, where she was the recipient of the Koussevitzsky Foundation Fellowship, and with New York Phiharmonic principal bass Eugene Levinson at the Aspen Music Festival. Prior to Curtis, Mrs. Bates studied with Philadelphia Orchestra bassist Henry G. Scott on a Ford Foundation Fellowship.

Mrs. Bates has been a substitute member of the Philadelphia Orchestra (the first woman to play in their bass section), performing with them at the Academy of Music and at Carnegie Hall. Currently, Mrs. Bates is a member of the Princeton Symphony, the Riverside Symphonia and the early music group Vox Amadeus, as well as freelancing with many other area performing arts organizations. Mrs. Bates teaches at Kutztown University, Germantown Academy, St. Basil Academy and Temple University's Center for Gifted Young Musicians. Mrs. Bates is a member of the International Society of Bassists, where she has served on the Board of Directors and authored several articles appearing in their publication. Mrs. Bates was featured in the 1981 Twentieth Century Fox motion picture "On the Right Track" playing her double bass.