Anthony Elliott was the Grand Prize winner of the Emmanuel Feuermann Memorial International Cello Solo Competition in 1987. He continues to garner critical acclaim for his performances as a concert cellist, conductor, and soloist.  Presently he is Emeritus Professor of Cello at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  Solo appearances include such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, and the CBC Toronto Orchestra.  He has championed new works for cello, including the Cello Concerto by Primous Fountain, which he premiered with Stanislav Skrowaczewski and the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Memorial to Martin Luther King by Canadian composer Oskar Morawetz.  Additionally, he worked extensively with black composers, premiering new works by James Lee, Chad Hughes, and Augustus Hill.

 

He earned rave critical notices for his performances of Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote with Kazuyoshi Akiyama and the Vancouver Symphony.  Principal cello experiences included collaborations with Neville Marriner, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Eric Leinsdorf, Eugene Ormandy, Antal Dorati, Karl Richter, Klauss Tennstedt, James DePriest, and Alexander Schneider.  Additionally, he was one of four cello soloists featured in the World Premiere of Prisms by David Canfield at the American Cello Congress at Indiana University.

 

Festival appearances have included Sitka Summer Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, New York’s Bargemusic Series, Chamber Music International of Dallas, Houston’s DaCamera Series, the Victoria International Festival, Kent/Blossom Festival, and the Gateways Festival.  Chamber Music International has twice selected him as “Artist of the Season”.  Chamber music collaborations have included the present and former concertmasters of such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, Deutsche Kammerakademie, and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic.

 

A highly successful conductor, he has conducted professional symphonies, operas, choirs, ballets, youth and chamber orchestras, in such venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall, Orchestra Hall in Detroit, and Benaroya Hall in Seattle.  Collaborations include guest conducting the San Antonio Symphony, the Sphinx Symphony, the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra, the CAMMAC Orchestra, the Prince George’s Philharmonic, the Vancouver Chamber Players, the Scott Joplin Chamber Orchestra, and the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall.