Allison Eldredge, Biography

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 I-tunes, 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.

[July 2010]