Faculty

Profile

Hailed by the press as "a musician of commitment and energy... with brilliance of technique and masterful interpretations", Maureen McDermott sustains an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and teacher. A native of New York, she has performed in France, Taiwan, China, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Curacao, Germany, St. Bartholemy, and throughout the U.S. and Canada. Concerts in the U.S. have included chamber music performances at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall’s "Great Performers Series", Barge Music, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, a debut at the 92nd St Y, the Kennedy Center, and the Van Cliburn Foundation in Texas. An active chamber music performer, Ms. McDermott is a member of the McDermott Trio (with sisters Anne-Marie and Kerry) and a founding member of the cello quartet "CELLO". Ms. McDermott is a founding member of the Lighthouse Chamber Players, a group that performed throughout Cape Cod. The highlight of several summers was an annual collaboration with Bernard Greenhouse. As a chamber music performer, Ms. McDermott has collaborated with artists Bernard Greenhouse, Paul Neubauer, Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, Steven Tenebaum, Wu Han, Christan Bor, Nai Yan Hu, Fred Sherry, Bella Hristova, Susannah Philips, Robert White as well as many other artists. Ms.McDermott has participated in numerous music festivals including the Newport Music Festival, Bravo! Colorado, Mainly Mozart, Ocean Reef Chamber Music Festival, Park City International Music Festival, Art in Avila (Curacao), Les Recontres Internationales d’Ensembles Violoncelles, Caramoor and Chautauqua. As an orchestral musician, Ms.McDermott performs often with the N.Y. Philharmonic, and has performed with the American Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, St. Luke’s Orchestra, St. Cecilia Orchestra as well as other orchestras in NYC. Media appearances include featured performances in the movie "FAME", “Western Stars” movie with Bruce Springsteen, “Saturday Night Live” with Michael Buble, TODAY show with Sting, CBS Sunday Morning feature with the McDermott Trio an AT&T commercial (broadcast internationally) and in featured articles in TIME and W magazines. She has recorded on the SONY Classical, Angel, d’Note classics, BMG and Pro Arte labels. Ms.McDermott is also an active recording artist in film scores including movies such as “Joker”, “Quiet Place 2”, “Julie and Julia”, “True Grit”, “Noah”, “The Good Shephard”   ,”Hail Caesar” , “Doubt”, “West Side Story”, “In the Heights” and many more. She has recorded for Broadway show soundtracks including Sondheim’s “Passion” and “King David”. Ms.McDermott has performed with Sting at the Apollo Theater and on the TODAY show, in the Red Blood Orchestra with Peter Gabriel on David Letterman, and with Michael Buble on Saturday Night Live. She has also recorded with J. Cole and Juan Luis Guerra. As a cello teacher, Ms. McDermott has taught at numerous summer festivals including Berkshire Summer Music, Academia Perosi ( In Bella, Italy-2013 ),Music at Port Milford ( Canada ), School for Strings Chamber Music Festival, Elizabeth Morrow Summer String Festival. Her students have performed in outreach concerts for Concerts in Motion, New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program, and across NYC as well as in Cape Cod and the Berkshires. Ms. McDermott’s students have continued their studies at Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Eastman, Oberlin, and San Francisco Conservatory. Ms. McDermott received her B.Mus at Manhattan School of Music and M.Mus from SUNY at Stonybrook as a student of Bernard Greenhouse, David Wells, and Martha Williams. She completed Suzuki certification at the School for Strings in N.Y. Ms. McDermott is on the cello and chamber music faculty at the School for Strings in New York City, Mannes School of Music Pre-College and an Artist Teacher at the Third Street Music School Settlement. She has given master classes in São Paulo, Brazil, Italy, and across the U.S.