Cellist Eric Bartlett has been a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra since 1983, and recently retired from the New York Philharmonic after 23 years. He served 14 seasons as principal cellist of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and was a guest principal of the American Ballet Theatre orchestra.
Mr. Bartlett grew up in Marlboro, Vermont, where he was a student of Stanley Eukers, George Finckel, and Leopold Teraspulsky. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School in 1978 and 1979, as a student of Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins.
Mr. Bartlett made his New York Philharmonic solo debut in March, 2015, as the soloist in Per Nørgård’s second Cello Concerto on the Philharmonic’s “Contact” series, and recently performed the solo cello part of Pierre Boulez’ “Messagesquisse” both in New York City and in Shanghai. Mr. Bartlett has appeared frequently as a member soloist with Orpheus and is featured on several of their Deutsche Grammophon recordings. In addition to Orpheus, other solo appearances include the Cabrillo Festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Anchorage Symphony, the Hartford Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen and Juilliard Orchestras, and the New York Philharmonic’s Horizons ’84 series.
Dedicated to contemporary music, Mr. Bartlett released a CD of four commissioned works, entitled Essence of Cello, on the Albany Records label. He is an adjunct professor at The Juilliard School, where he teaches orchestral repertoire for cello and coaches the conductorless Juilliard Chamber Orchestra.