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Allison Eldredge Cellist |
In America, Ms. Eldredge's performances have included her critically-acclaimed 1993 solo debut as soloist at Carnegie Hall, a special concert in tribute to cellist Pablo Casals at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, a guest invitation as soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and the distinction of being invited to play at the White House. In 2008, Strad Magazine praised how "her experience paid dividends in this high-voltage perfomance" in a concert celebrating American composer Paul Schoenfield's works with the composer present at New York City's Bargemusic. She has been the featured soloist of orchestral tours including a North American and European tour with the Warsaw Sinfonia under Krzysztof Penderecki where the Chicago Tribune raved "Eldredge...dazzling in her rendition of this one movement concerto (Penderecki)...the concerto is a tour de force for a cellist who is capable of displaying as wide an aural palette as Eldredge can.". She has toured England with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, including a concert in London at Queen Elizabeth Hall; and has made four tours of Israel with the Haifa Symphony. Of special interest was a tour of Russia for performances with the Moscow Virtuosi and Vladimir Spivakov, which culminated in a nationally televised gala concert, at the Moscow Conservatory Grand Hall. She has toured every music capital of Eastern Europe with such orchestras as the Ukraine State Symphony and 12 cities of western Europe with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of recent seasons include seven recital tours of Japan, where Japan's premiere music magazine Ongaku No Tomo described Ms. Eldredge's Tokyo recital as " .. an exquisite performance...her sotto voce was so beautiful and her nuances were sensuous and enticing...". Following her appearance with the Berlin Symphony at the Berlin Philharmonie, Der Tagesspiegel wrote, "Allison Eldredge played with such intensity, that, accompanied by virtuosic accessories, the wildest bumblebee-like runs and cascading doublestops, a passionate statement was made." Ms. Eldredge has also recently appeared as soloist with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Osaka Philharmonic, the Puerto Rico Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Lancaster Symphony, the Peoria Symphony, the Boston Classical Orchestra and the Hague Philharmonic in performances of the Brahms Double Concerto with violinist Vladimir Spivakov. In 2009, Ms. Eldredge released her most recent recording on Itunes Elgar: Cello Concerto and Pomp & Circumstance for Denon Essentials. Her discography includes two additional CD's on the Denon Record label: Music by Chopin and Fauré, and "If I Loved You", arrangements of Broadway and film music for cello and piano, which were hailed by Fanfare Magazine as "passionate, illuminating and always enchanting". Her other recordings include concertos by Lalo and Saint-Saëns with the Royal Philharmonic and Hans Vonk (Pony Canyon Classics); a recital disc with pianist Yoshie Akimoto (Pony Canyon Classics); and, "Romantic Duet", an album of celebrated opera arias transcribed for violin, cello, and orchestra (BMG) with violinist, Jaap Van Sweden; and Eternal Day, an album of devotional songs with Mezzo-Soprano Ariel Bybee and pianist/arranger David Fletcher. Ms. Eldredge's radio and television credits include appearances on New York's WQXR, Boston's WGBH, Japan's NHK-National Television and Radio, ABC's Good Morning America and a performing arts documentary in which she appeared with Isaac Stern and Yo-Yo Ma for Japanese television. Her love of and commitment to the arts in Vermont have made her a frequent live performer on Vermont's Public Radio (VPR). Highly acclaimed for her ensemble-playing, Ms. Eldredge has shared the stage with acclaimed artists, such as Andre Previn, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gil Shaham. She is a frequent guest artist of the Boston Chamber Music Society, Bay Chamber Music Festival, the San Juan Chamber Music Festival and the Killington Music Festival. Other festival appearances include Ravinia, Caramoor, Casals, Santa Fe, Rockport Chamber, Salt Bay, Waterloo Festivals, the Colmar Festival in France, the Davos Festival in Switzerland, the Dvorak Festival in Prague, and the Johanessen International Festival in Victoria, BC, among others. Born in New York City, Ms. Eldredge lives in Boston with her husband pianist Max Levinson and their two daughters. She serves on the faculty of Harvard College in Cambridge, MA. |
Following her debut performance with the Chicago Symphony and conductor Daniel Barenboim, the Chicago Tribune heralded Ms. Eldredge as "a musician of remarkable gifts". Ms. Eldredge has performed as soloist with many of the world's great orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Saint Louis Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Boston Pops, New World Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, China National Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Hague Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She has performed with such distinguished conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Andre Previn, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Krzysztof Penderecki, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Hans Vonk, Sergiu Commissiona, Keith Lockhart, JoAnn Falletta, Stanislaw Skrowacewski, Eiji Oue, Jorge Mester, Otto-Werner Mueller and Jaap van Sweden. In 2004, she was appointed as Artistic Director of the Killington Music Festival, a summer music festival now in its 28th year, which provides a podium to gifted young musicians, world-renowned artists, chamber musicians and music lovers to create and to meet through music-making in the picturesque mountains of Vermont. At the Killington Music Festival, she shares her interest for promoting young musicians and educating future audiences. She also visits school and music programs around the country each year to promote music education to the youth of America, a passion which has taken her into more than a hundred school programs throughout the U.S. |
Allison Eldredge gave her first public recital at age 9. By the time she was 19, she had won the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant and Musical America's "Young Artist of the Year" Award. Ms. Eldredge has since been compared to the great cello masters receiving critical acclaim for her technical ease and her impassioned perfomances in the premier concert halls of North America, Europe, Israel, Latin America and the Far East. She has appeared with eminent conductors and orchestras in music capitals throughout the world. |