Anthony Elliott
Violoncello, Conductor

Anthony Elliott, Conductor of the Michigan Youth Orchestra at the University of Michigan, is in continuous demand as a conductor, and as a concert cellist. Equally at home with the bow or the baton, he has earned numerous awards, enthusiastic public acclaim, and excellent critical notices for his performances throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

Maestro Elliott was first encouraged to pursue conducting by the late Karel Ancerl, who as Music Director, led the Czech Philharmonic to international prominence. Conducting studies were under the direction of Vilem Sokol and Derrick Inoyue. He has participated in conducting master classes sponsored by the American Symphony Orchestra League under the direction of Pierre Boulez and Andre Previn, and is a member of the Conductor’s Guild. Mr. Elliott was also invited to give a workshops for conductors at the Midwestern Conference of Music Education at the University of Michigan, and for the Texas Orchestra Directors Association.

Recently he conducted the opening concert of the Guelph Spring Festival, one of Canada’s oldest classical music festivals, featuring the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. That performance included the World Premiere of And the Children Shall Lead by composer Jeffrey Ryan. The work was a special commission from the Millennium Arts Fund of the Canada Arts Council. Other recent engagements include the Sphinx Symphony, Plymouth (MI) Symphony, the Prince George’s Philharmonic, the University Symphony Orchestra at the University of Michigan, the Washington, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Maryland, Alaska, and North Dakota All State Orchestras, the All Northwest Orchestra, and a fully staged production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. Other fully staged operas include Cosi Fan Tutte, and The Consul. His activities as a conductor are far ranging, including choral works, ballet, and collaborating with internationally known soloists such as Pinchas Zukerman, Nathaniel Rosen, Phillipe Bianconni, Margarita Noye, Jeffrey Biegel, Valerie Gillard, Paul Rosenthal, and Alice Neary.

Mr. Elliott has conducted the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival, an honor he has shared with National Symphony Orchestra Music Director Leonard Slatkin, and Cleveland Orchestra Resident Conductor Jahja Ling. He has also shared podium duties at the Texas Music Festival with such noted maestros as Christoph Eschenbach and Maxim Shostakovich. For seven seasons, he served as Assistant Music Director of the Marrowstone Music Festival, conducting both the Festival and Concert Orchestras. As Music Director of the Houston Youth Symphony and Ballet, he led successful collaborations of music with dance, a joint concert with the New Philharmonic Junior Orchestra of Osaka-Kobe, a joint concert with the San Antonio Youth Orchestra, and a heralded two week European concert tour to Holland, Germany, and Austria. He has also led the CAMMAC Orchestra, The Vancouver Chamber Players, the Scott Joplin Chamber Orchestra, the University of Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Michigan Youth Arts Festival Orchestra, the All Michigan Honors Orchestra, and the Western Michigan University Symphony Orchestra. In 1988 he received a Citation of Excellence for his artistic accomplishments from Houston Mayor Kathryn Whitmire and the Houston City Council.

Mr. Elliott was the Grand Prize winner of the Feuermann International Solo Cello Competition in 1987, and has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute Symphony Orchestra and the CBC Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded for Vox, Koch, Collins Classics, and Equilibrium Records.

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