Gregory Hesselink, cello

After many years living an eclectic musical life in New York City, Greg Hesselink is now the cello teacher at Ithaca College. As a chamber musician, he is a winner of the Naumburg Chamber Award with the New Millennium Ensemble, and is a former member of numerous other ensembles including Sequitur, Newband (caretakers of the Harry Partch instrument collection), the Argento New Music Project, New York Philomusica, the Manhattan Sinfonietta and the Bang on a Can ‘Spit’ Orchestra. He continues to perform with the Locrian Chamber players, the Orchestra of the League of Composers and as principal cello of Riverside Symphony. An active promoter of new music, Greg has premiered more than 150 works including concertos by Ross Bauer, Daniel Weymouth and James Tenney’s Song and Dance for Harry Partch (on the tenor violin) at the Donaueschingen Musiktage. He has been the recipient of numerous awards with his ensembles, including the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, NEA, Ditson Fund, Copland and Mary Flagler Cary recording grants, CMA, Fromm, Meet the Composer and NYSCA commissioning grants. Recordings can be heard on CRI, Nonesuch, Naxos, Bridge, Koch, Albany, Wergo, Innova, PPI and Point Records. Greg received his training at the Interlochen Arts Academy with Cris Campbell, the Eastman School of Music with Steve Doane, and SUNY Stony Brook with Tim Eddy. In addition, he studied during summers with Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, Orlando Cole and Stephen Geber, as well as extensive chamber music studies with members of the Cleveland, Juilliard, Alban Berg, Emerson, Tokyo, Prague, Bartok and Mendelssohn String Quartets, the Beaux Arts Trio, Gil Kalish, Julius Levine, Jan De Gaetani and Martha Katz. Greg has taught at Princeton, Sarah Lawrence, Hunter College and for 20 years at Mannes prep, not to mention many summers at Apple Hill!