Jeffrey Zeigler Rejoins the Mannes School of Music String Faculty Beginning in the 2024-2025 Academic Year
New York, NY – November 22, 2024 – The Mannes School of Music is pleased to announce that renowned cellist Jeffrey Zeigler has rejoined its esteemed string faculty, beginning in the 2024-2025 academic school year. A celebrated musician with a reputation for his innovative approach to both classical and contemporary repertoire, Zeigler brings a wealth of experience and passion for teaching to the Mannes community, where he previously taught cello and chamber music from 2013-2022 as co-chair of the string department.
“I was excited when we first hired Jeff Zeigler at Mannes and I am now even more excited to have rehired him in a school that he has helped shape during his prior tenure. Jeff had been a co-chair of the string faculty, director of Mannes Prep, and performed Paul Moravec’s Cello Concerto with the Mannes Orchestra during our centennial year in 2016. That was then and now, I am so very much looking forward to what Jeff will do upon his return to the faculty at Mannes,” said Richard Kessler, Executive Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Dean of Mannes School of Music.
Zeigler’s career has spanned the globe, with performances in major concert halls, collaborations with celebrated composers, and advocacy for new music. As a member of the internationally acclaimed Kronos Quartet, he performed and recorded for nearly a decade. Throughout his career, Zeigler has been a powerful voice in the intersection of classical music and modern composition. Strings Magazine described his most recent solo album, Houses of Zodiac, as “one of the greatest and most ambitious solo cello albums of all time.” In his teaching, Zeigler brings a student-centered philosophy that emphasizes creativity, technical mastery, and an exploration of the cello’s rich potential in both solo and ensemble settings.
“Over ten years ago, Mannes welcomed me to New York upon my return to this city following my tenure as cellist of the Kronos Quartet,” said Zeigler. “And once again, the school has welcomed me back with open arms. In my absence, the school has continued to grow and thrive under the visionary leadership of Richard Kessler, and I am so happy to call this place home once again.”
Jeffrey Zeigler is one of the most innovative and versatile cellists of our time. Following his eight-year tenure as the cellist of the legendary Kronos Quartet, his work continues to push boundaries with a wide array of solo and collaborative projects.
Zeigler has collaborated with a wide array of artists and innovators such as Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Hauschka, Vijay Iyer, poet Robin Coste Lewis, Yo-Yo Ma, artist Julie Mehretu, writer Siddhartha Mukherjee, Foday Musa Suso, and Tanya Tagaq. 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. Recent and upcoming concertos written for him include Mark Adamo’s Last Year (at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra), Andy Akiho’s Cello Concerto (Sun Valley Music Festival and the Oregon Symphony) and Amy Brandon’s Simulacra (Open Waters Festival).
Mr. Zeigler has released 50 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 Amazon Prime’s Golden Globe Award-winning series Mozart in the Jungle.
Alongside Paola Prestini, Zeigler is the Co-Artistic Director of VisionIntoArt, a non-profit new music and interdisciplinary arts production company based in New York. Described by The New York Times as “always intriguing and frequently beguiling,” VIA “facilitates flamboyant, confounding 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.
The College of Performing Arts at The New School was formed in 2015 and draws together the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of creative excellence, the College of Performing Arts is a hub for vigorous training, cross-disciplinary collaboration, bold experimentation, innovative education, and world-class performances.
The 1,000 students at the College of Performing Arts are actors, performers, writers, improvisers, creative technologists, entrepreneurs, composers, arts managers, and multidisciplinary artists who believe in the transformative power of the arts for all people. Students and faculty collaborate with colleagues across The New School in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, public policy, advocacy, and more.
The curriculum at the College of Performing Arts is dynamic, inclusive, and responsive to the changing arts and culture landscape. New degrees and coursework, like the new graduate degrees for Performer-Composers and Artist Entrepreneurs are designed to challenge highly skilled artists to experiment, innovate, and engage with the past, present, and future of their artforms. New York City’s Greenwich Village provides the backdrop for the College of Performing Arts, which is housed at Arnhold Hall on West 13th Street and the historic Westbeth Artists Community on Bank Street.
Founded in 1916 by America’s first great violin recitalist and noted educator, David Mannes, and pianist and educator Clara Damrosch Mannes, the Mannes School of Music is a standard-bearer for foundational excellence and radically progressive music education, dedicated to supporting the development of creative and socially engaged artists. Through its undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies programs, Mannes offers a curriculum as imaginative as it is rigorous, taught by a world-class faculty and visiting artists. Distinguished Mannes alumni include the 20th-century songwriting legend Burt Bacharach, the great pianists Michel Camilo, Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, and Bill Evans, acclaimed conductors Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, JoAnn Falletta, and Julius Rudel, beloved mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, as well as the great opera stars of today, Yonghoon Lee, Danielle de Niese, and Nadine Sierra. As part of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, together with the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and the School of Drama, Mannes makes its home on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus in a state-of-the-art facility at the newly renovated Arnhold Hall.