Yachats Music Festival

Troy Kenneth Stewart - Troy Kenneth Stuart, cellist, a native Baltimorean, is a graduate of the Peabody Preparatory, the Baltimore School for the Arts, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Mr. Stuart’s major teachers included Richard Kapuchinski, Steve Doane, Norman Fischer, and Ronald Thomas. He has coached chamber music with the Apple Hill Chamber Players, Isidore Cohen, Abraham Skernick, Timothy Eddy, Issac Stern and members of the Guarneri, Julliard, Vermeer, Lydian, Audubon, Chester, Concord and Smithson Quartets. He has performed in the master classes of Anne Bylsma, David Finkel, Leon Fleisher, Donald Wallerstein and Mehnahem Pressler. In 1987 Mr. Stuart was chosen to be a member of the prestigious New York String Orchestra, under the direction of famed violinist/conductor Alexander Schneider, performing at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. In 1988 Mr. Stuart was invited to participate at the internationally televised (CBS) Kennedy Center Honors in honor of Schneider, where he performed alongside Isaac Stern, Jamie Laredo, Michael Tree, Sharon Robinson and Pamela Frank. Concert pianist Armenta invited Mr. Stuart to participate in the newly formed Gateways Music Festival where he served as principal cellist under conductor Michael Morgan.

Recent seasons have included a performance at the Yachats Music Festival in Oregon, a residency at the Walden School with the Phoenix Chamber Players, participation in the 2003 Yale Gordon recital series, a tour sponsored by the Chicago Symphony with the Gateways Ensemble, and, since 2002, several guest artist appearances with the Apple Hill Chamber Players. In addition, he is a founding member of the Ritz Chamber Players, which has toured nationally, held residencies in Baltimore, Washington, DC, and Florida, performed a soldout concert at Carnegie Hall, and was featured on the international FOX-TV broadcast of the NAACP Image Awards.

Mr. Stuart recently performed several recitals with internationally acclaimed pianist Terrence Wilson, and a European tour with the Ritz Chamber Players. A passionate and dedicated teacher, Mr. Stuart has taught String Pedagogy at Morgan State University in Maryland, and he currently teaches cello with the Peabody Preparatory and the Baltimore School for the Arts. He also judged the National ACT-SO competition and participate in several teaching residencies with the Ritz Chamber Players.

Mr. Stuart is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Freidberg Lecture/Artist Award, and the Martell Cordon Bleu Award, presented by actor/musician Dudley Moore.