Jeffrey Zeigler

JEFFREY ZEIGLER is one of the most versatile cellists of our time. Acclaimed for his independent streak, he has commissioned over three dozen works, and is admired as a potent collaborator and unique improviser. Zeigler has been described as “fiery”, and a player who performs “with unforced simplicity and beauty of tone” by the New York Times.

Jeffrey Zeigler was the cellist of the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet for eight seasons. During his tenure, Zeigler had the opportunity to collaborate with a wide range of luminaries from John Adams to Noam Chomsky, from Damon Albarn (Gorillaz) to Trimpin and from Henryk Gorecki and Steve Reich to Tom Waits.

Since moving on from Kronos, Zeigler has enjoyed a wonderfully multifaceted career which has led to collaborations from Yo-Yo Ma and Laurie Anderson to Hauschka and Roomful of Teeth, from Philip Glass and Foday Musa Suso to John Corigliano and Vijay Iyer, from Tanya Tagaq and Terry Riley to Vladimir Feltsman and John Zorn. Zeigler has also collaborated with members of the Eroica Trio and the Cleveland and St. Lawrence Quartets.

Recently, Zeigler gave the world premier of The Colorado Project at Da Camera in Houston and at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Narrated by the Academy Award winning actor Mark Rylance, the film, directed by Murat Eyuboglu is performed live along side Glenn Kotche and Roomful of Teeth with music written by Pulitzer Prize winning composer, John Luther Adams, Bill Brittelle, Glenn Kotche, Shara Nova and Paola Prestini. The Colorado will next appear at Stanford Live in Spring 2017.

In the Fall 2014, Zeigler released his first solo album, Something of Life. A collaborative release with Innova Records and VIA Records, the album features world premier recordings of works by Philip Glass, Glenn Kotche, Felipe Perez Santiago, Paola Prestini, Gity Razaz and John Zorn.

Mr. Zeigler has released dozens of recordings for Nonesuch Records, Deutsche Grammophon, Cantaloupe and Smithsonian Folkways and has appeared with Norah Jones on her album Not Too Late on Blue Note Records. Zeigler can also be heard on the film soundtrack for Paolo Sorrentino’s Academy Award winning film, La Grande Bellezza, as well as Darren Aronofsky's Golden Globe winning film, The Fountain, featuring music by Clint Mansell and including performances by the Scottish band, Mogwai. 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.

Mr. Zeigler has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, the Royal Danish Radio Symphony, the Basel Symphonie, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Mannes Symphony and the Vancouver-based jazz band, The Hard Rubber Orchestra under the batons of John Adams, JoAnn Falletta, Dennis Russell Davies, Thomas Dausgaard and Peter Oundjian.

Jeffrey Zeigler holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music where he was a student of Stephen Doane and a Master of Music degree from Rice University where he served as the Teaching Assistant for Paul Katz. He then continued his studies at Indiana University under Janos Starker. Mr. Zeigler has also studied at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh, England where he was a pupil of William Pleeth and Zara Nelsova. From 1998-2004 he was a member of the Fischoff Grand Prize winning Corigliano Quartet which served as the Lisa Arnholt Quartet-in-Residence at the Juilliard School.

Zeigler has been the recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize, the Polar Music Prize, the President’s Merit Award from the National Academy of Recorded Arts and the Chamber Music America Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award and The Asia Society's Cultural Achievement Award. Zeigler is on the Cello Faculty at Mannes College The New School For Music and has been published on John Zorn’s ARCANA series and is a regular contributor to CelloBello and to Q2 of WQXR.