Nicholas Canellakis, cellist

“...seduced by his rich, alluring tone”

—The New York Times

Biography

Nicholas Canellakis has become one of the most sought-after and innovative cellists of his generation, praised as a “superb young soloist” (The New Yorker) and for being “impassioned...the audience seduced by his rich, alluring tone” (The New York Times). A multifaceted artist, Canellakis has forged a unique voice combining his talents as soloist, chamber musician, curator, filmmaker, composer/arranger, and teacher.

Recent concert highlights include concerto appearances with the Virginia, Albany, Delaware, Stamford, Richardson, Lansing, and Bangor Symphonies, the Erie Philharmonic, The Orchestra Now, the New Haven Symphony as Artist-in-Residence, and the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall. He performs recitals throughout the U.S. with his longtime duo collaborator, pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown, and recent appearances have included Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, New Orleans Friends of Chamber Music, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and Wolf Trap in Virginia.

Canellakis was recently appointed to the cello faculty of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, his alma mater.

Canellakis is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, with which he performs regularly in Alice Tully Hall and on tour internationally, including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Louvre in Paris, the Seoul Arts Center in Korea, and the Shanghai and Taipei National Concert Halls. He is also a regular guest artist at many of the world's leading music festivals, including Santa Fe, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Bard, Bridgehampton, La Jolla, Moab, ChamberFest Cleveland, and Music in the Vineyards. In 2018, he was appointed artistic director of Chamber Music Sedona in Arizona, where he has made a significant impact through his dynamic programming and educational and community outreach.

Canellakis’s latest album, (b)romance, featuring some of his original compositions and arrangements, was released by First Hand Records in 2024 and has received over one million streams on Apple Music.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and New England Conservatory, his teachers included Orlando Cole, Peter Wiley, Paul Katz, and Madeleine Golz. He began his Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center career as a member of the Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two), and he has also been in residence at Carnegie Hall as a member of Ensemble Connect.

Filmmaking and acting are special interests of Canellakis. He has produced, directed, and starred in several short films and music videos, including his popular comedy web series Conversations with Nick Canellakis. His latest film, Thin Walls and My New Cello, were nominated for awards at many prominent film festivals and are currently available to stream online.

Canellakis plays on an outstanding cello by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, from 1840. For more information, visit nicholascanellakis.com.

Videos

Back to Artists