Eliot Bailen

Strings Magazine writes, At Merkin Hall (NYC) 'cellist Eliot Bailen displayed a warm, focused tone, concentrated expressiveness and admirable technical command always at the service of the music" (July '99) Mr. Bailen is principal cello of the New York Chamber Ensemble, Westfield Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra New England, Teatro Grattacielo and the New Choral Society. Founder and Artistic Director of the Sherman Chamber Ensemble whose performances the New York Times has described as “the Platonic ideal of a chamber music concert.” (July, 2005), Mr. Bailen also performs regularly with the Saratoga Chamber Players, 'Modern Works' and the Sebago-Long Lake Chamber Music Festival and is founder of the Rodeph Sholom Chamber Music Series in New York. He is assistant-principal cello of the Stamford Symphony and appears frequently with leading New York area orchestras such as the Orchestra of St. Luke's, New York City Opera, New Jersey Symphony and American Symphony. He has recorded for Nonesuch, Koch International, Deutche Grammophon, Delos, New World, Beanstalk, BMG and Flying Dutchman Records and has been heard as solo cello in numerous Broadway shows. Mr. Bailen received his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) from Yale University and is on the cello and chamber music faculty at Columbia University. Graduating in 1977 with High Honors in Music and French Literature from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, Mr. Bailen also holds an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University where he was awarded the coveted Slater Prize for Entrepreneurship. In 2002, he was awarded the Norman Vincent Peale Arts Award for Positive Thinking. Mr. Bailen has also gained national attention as a writer and producer of children's music. Winner of the 1990 Parent's Choice Gold Medal and winner of numerous ASCAP Popular Awards, Mr. Bailen was a featured guest artist on Nickelodeon's "Eureeka's Castle" airing from 1993 through 1997. Mr. Bailen’s "Song to Symphony" project, an extended school residency program that presents children's original work in an orchestral setting, was the subject of a NY Times feature article (Sept. 2006). Mr. Bailen and his wife, the flutist, Susan Rotholz, live in New York City with their twin sons David and Daniel and their daughter Julia.