MA 30 The Innovators: Zuill Bailey

Artistic Director, El Paso Pro-Musica
Professor of Cello, University of Texas at El Paso
Artistic Director, Northwest Bach Festival

With degrees from the Peabody Institute and the Juilliard School, cellist Zuill Bailey has performed and recorded with orchestras all over the United States, as well as in Austria, Israel, and South Africa. But he has cast a wider net, far beyond the concert hall, determined to make classical music accessible to all, even in nontraditional settings.

He performs for thousands of students in schools every year. Acknowledging the effects of music on newborn babies, he has played in local neo-natal intensive care units. In Spokane, WA, where Bailey is artistic director of the Northwest Bach Festival, and in Mesa, AZ, where he is guest artistic director for the Mesa Arts Center, he has provided music in hospices, oncology centers, and homeless shelters. Bailey is also artistic director for the Sitka Summer Music Festival/Series and Cello Seminar in Alaska. In nearby Eagle Mountain, he gives annual performances with the women’s orchestra of the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center. Whether in school districts, low-income neighborhoods, or in prisons, Bailey is committed to bringing people together through music. As he notes, “It is a great pleasure for me to be able to share the gift of music through concerts as well as help engage communities. Nothing is as powerful and as enriching as watching how classical music inspires, heals, educates, and unites us all. I am honored to continue doing my part as an ambassador for music and to share the joy that it brings to everyone.”