It’s not too late to register for New Directions Cello Festival on June 26 and 27, 2021 on Zoom! ACMP members get a $25 discount on one-day passes and full festival passes and also half-price tickets for the online concerts for those who prefer not to join in the whole workshop. Log into the ACMP website and consult the Member Discounts page for details on how to access this special benefit.

For over 25 years, the New Directions Cello Association has held an annual festival dedicated to new and unconventional uses of the cello. They created an international forum for the exchange of music and ideas and fostered the growth of the cello in all styles beyond classical music and the cello can now be seen and heard in countless genres of music around the globe thanks, in part, to the New Directions Cello Festival.

Over the years, more than 100 guest artists and their groups performed and gave workshops at NDCF. They were a who’s-who of innovative cellists including David Darling, Stephan Braun, Eugene Freisen, Jami Sieber, Ernst Reijseger, Mark Summer, Zoë Keating, Vincent Segal, Stephen Katz, Akua Dixon, Rufus Cappodocia, Erik Friedlander, and many more. Trail-blazing groups featured at the New Directions Cello Festival have included Turtle Island Quartet, Mark O’Connor’s Appalachia Waltz Trio, and Rasputina.

The New Directions Cello Association is happy to announce that the New Directions Cello Festival is back in action for an all-virtual event filled with workshops, panel discussions and performances this June 26 & 27, 2021, under the new leadership of Artistic Director Jeremy Harman and Assistant Director Phaedre Sassano. The founder and former Director of NDCF, Chris White, will be a guest artist alongside Leyla McCalla, Ben Sollee, Artyom Manuykan, Seth Parker Woods, Marta Roma, Jake Charkey, and Jeremy Harman. In the continued spirit of NDCF, we are going to have a broad array of topics covered, including (but not limited to):

-Building a rhythmic vocabulary

-An Indian approach to improvisation

-Pizzicato techniques and grooves

-Arranging for voice and cello

-Using chords to generate new compositions

-Open improvisational systems inspired by the music of George Lewis

-Chopping and other percussive cello techniques including dragging, strumming and more

Registration is open for the full festival, single day passes, or concert tickets, and there is a $25 discount for ACMP members with the code on the ACMP Member Discounts page. This festival is open to advanced high school and conservatory/college students as well as professional and amateur cellists, music educators, and cello enthusiasts of all ages! Anyone who is interested in exploring the limitless potential of cello will find a community at NDCF. Guest artist bios, workshop schedule and registration details can be found here: https://www.newdirectionscellofestival.org/

Click on the “history” tab to peruse the Association website https://newdirectionscello.org/ where you will find past newsletters chock full of new directions information, lots of pictures from previous festivals, loads of CDs and sheet music in our shop, videos, links to new directions cellists, and lots more! Please consider becoming a member and support our mission at https://newdirectionscello.org/become-a-member/

You can also keep up on the latest New Directions news by joining over 1.6 K members on the Facebook group page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/newdirectionscellofestival/ or by visiting NDCF’s brand new Instagram page: https://instagram.com/newdirectionscellofestival?igshid=1g0geny3bq9ip

Register now for this very special opportunity!