Jeffrey Zeigler
Cellist and multidisciplinary artist Jeffrey Zeigler has established himself as one of the most innovative and versatile musicians of our time, with a body of work that spans across different genres, themes, and formats, from solo to opera to chamber and interdisciplinary collaborations. Artistically beyond categorization and fiercely independent, Strings Magazine hailed Zeigler as “widely known for pushing boundaries and breaking conventions,” while The New York Times praised his playing as “fiery… with unforced simplicity and beauty of tone.” Deeply committed to the creation of new works, he has commissioned dozens of works and has collaborated with many of the leading artists and innovators such as Laurie Anderson, John Corigliano, Bryce Dessner (of The National), Philip Glass, Hauschka, Magos Herrera, Glenn Kotche (of Wilco), Yo-Yo Ma, Dai Matsuoka (of Sankai Juku) Siddhartha Mukherjee, Paola Prestini, Terry Riley, Carl Hancock Rux, Foday Musa Suso, Tanya Tagaq, and John Zorn.
As a member of the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet from 2005-2013, he is the recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize, the Polar Music Prize, the President’s Merit Award from NARAS (who present the GRAMMYTM Awards), the Richard Bogomolny National Service Award from Chamber Music America, and The Asia Society’s Cultural Achievement Award.
Zeigler’s 2024-25 season includes the world premiere performances of GRAMMYTM Award-winning percussionist Andy Akiho’s new cello concerto Nisei, a work which Akiho wrote specifically for Zeigler and was inspired by the duo’s shared Japanese-American Heritage. The concerto received its world premiere at the Sun Valley Music Festival, with continuing performances with the Oregon Symphony, Bozeman Symphony, Columbus Pro Musica, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. Zeigler also performs in the premiere of Silent Light, an immersive new opera by his wife, trailblazing composer Paola Prestini, at National Sawdust in celebration of the venue’s 10th anniversary. He will also travel to Bowling Green State University to perform Houses of Zodiac, a groundbreaking multimedia production that he co-produced with Prestini, blending spoken word, movement, music, and imagery into a performance whose recording was hailed as “one of the greatest and most ambitious solo cello albums of all time” by Strings Magazine. Zeigler will perform at The Broad in Los Angeles in a project which he co-composed with Robin Coste Lewis, Julie Mehretu and Vijay Iyer entitled Archive of Desire – a multidisciplinary production combining live music, poetry, and visual art, created for the 160th anniversary of the birth of Greek poet C. P. Cavafy. In the Spring of 2025, Zeigler will rejoin the Kronos Quartet for a performance at National Sawdust which will feature a world premiere by composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh. Zeigler will also continue to develop his collaborative project We Were Fridays which combines cello, electronics, projections and flexn dance, and explores the legacy of the Gullah Geechee people of the Low Country of South Carolina. The production is set to premiere in 2025-26 and will also be recorded as Zeigler’s fifth solo album.
He has also performed as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, the Royal Danish Radio Symphony, the New Century Chamber Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra under the batons of Peter Oundjian, JoAnn Falletta, Dennis Russell Davies and Dmitry Sitkovetsky. Mr. Zeigler has released 40 solo and chamber music recordings for Nonesuch Records, Deutsche Grammophon, Cantaloupe, Smithsonian Folkways and National Sawdust Tracks and has appeared with Norah Jones on her album Not Too Late on Blue Note Records. Zeigler can be heard on the film soundtrack for Paolo Sorrentino’s Academy Award winning film, La Grande Bellezza, as well as Clint Mansell’s Golden Globe nominated soundtrack to the Darren Aronofsky film, The Fountain. 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.
Zeigler was the Music Director for two eco-documentaries that exist at the intersection of art, science, and community. Part one was entitled The Colorado and premiered at the Metropolitan Museum, the Kennedy Center, and Stanford Live and at over 30 film festivals. An excerpt of Part two, The Amazon, was presented at the Margaret Mead Festival at the American Museum of Natural History.
Alongside Paola Prestini, Zeigler is the Co-Artistic Director of VisionIntoArt, a non-profit new music & interdisciplinary arts production company based in New York. Described by The New York Times as “always intriguing and frequently beguiling,” VIA “facilitates flamboyant and enticing collaborations.”
Zeigler is the Director of the National Sawdust Ensemble of National Sawdust, an artist-led, multidisciplinary new music venue in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where he sits on the Advisory Board. As the “in house band,” NSE performs in many of NS’ most important projects including Blueprint and the Hildegard Commission for Female, Trans, and Non-Binary Composers.
Jeffrey Zeigler is a member of the Board of Directors of Chamber Music America and CelloBello and is on the Honorary Committee of the Sphinx Organization.
Jeffrey Zeigler plays on a cello by Samuel Zygmuntowicz on loan from the Five Partners Foundation. Zeigler also plays on Pirastro Perpetual Strings.
