Faculty

Jeffrey Zeigler is one of the most innovative and versatile cellists of our time. Following his eight year tenure as the cellist of the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet, his work continues to push boundaries with a wide array of solo and collaborative projects. His most recent solo album, Houses of Zodiac, features music by Paola Prestini. Strings Magazine has described the album as “one of the greatest and most ambitious solo cello albums of all time”.    Zeigler has collaborated with a wide array of artists and innovators such as Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Hauschka, Vijay Iyer, poet Robin Coste Lewis, Yo-Yo Ma, artist Julie Mehretu, writer Siddhartha Mukherjee, Foday Musa Suso, and Tanya Tagaq. He has also performed as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, the Royal Danish Radio Symphony, the New Century Chamber Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra under the batons of Peter Oundjian, JoAnn Falletta, Dennis Russell Davies and Dmitry Sitkovetsky. Recent and upcoming concertos written for him include Mark Adamo’s Last Year (at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra), Andy Akiho’s Cello Concerto (Sun Valley Music Festival and the Oregon Symphony) and Amy Brandon’s Simulacra (Open Waters Festival).   Mr. Zeigler has released 50 solo and chamber music recordings for Nonesuch Records, Deutsche Grammophon, Cantaloupe, Smithsonian Folkways and National Sawdust Tracks and has appeared with Norah Jones on her album Not Too Late on Blue Note Records. Zeigler can be heard on the film soundtrack for Paolo Sorrentino’s Academy Award winning film, La Grande Bellezza, as well as Clint Mansell’s Golden Globe nominated soundtrack to the Darren Aronofsky film, The Fountain. Zeigler can also be seen making an on screen cameo in Season 4 of the Amazon Prime’s Golden Globe Award winning series Mozart in the Jungle.   Alongside Paola Prestini, Zeigler is the Co-Artistic Director of VisionIntoArt, a non-profit new music & interdisciplinary arts production company based in New York. Described by The New York Times as “always intriguing and frequently beguiling”, VIA “facilitates flamboyant, confounding and enticing collaborations”.    Zeigler is the Director of the National Sawdust Ensemble of National Sawdust, an artist-led, multidisciplinary new music venue in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where he sits on the Advisory Board. As the “in house band”, NSE performs in many of NS’ most important projects including Blueprint and the Hildegard Commission for Female, Trans, and Non-Binary Composers.   Jeffrey Zeigler is a member of the Board of Directors of Chamber Music America and CelloBello and is on the Honorary Committee of the Sphinx Organization.