STEPHEN ERDODY is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he received both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. While at the Juilliard School, Mr. Erdody was principal cellist of the Juilliard Orchestra, the recipient of the Otto G. Storm and Juilliard Alumni Scholarships, and the winner of the Morris Loeb Prize for Outstanding Achievement in String Studies. He was the founding cellist of the New York String Quartet, and has served as principal and solo cellist of the Pacific Symphony, Opera Pacific, American Ballet Theater, the Dance Theater of Harlem and the Joffrey Ballet (for which Mr. Erdody performed the world premiere of the Mark Morris’ ballet, “The Esteemed Guest” playing the C.P.E. Bach Cello Concerto at the L.A. Music Center). Stephen has performed chamber music with artists including Emanuel Ax, Jeffrey Kahane, Yehudi Menuhin, and Lynn Harrell. He is a former member of the music faculties at the University of California, Irvine and the Aspen Music Festival. From 1987 until 2002, Stephen was the cellist of the highly acclaimed Angeles String Quartet, which won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for their complete recordings of the 68 Haydn String Quartets, a 21-disc set on the Philips and Decca labels. In 2003, Mr. Erdody founded Chamber Music Los Angeles, an organization that supports non-profit organizations that enrich children’s lives through the performing arts, particularly children who are terminally ill, at risk, or have little exposure to the arts. Stephen is very active in the motion picture and recording industry and can be heard as solo cellist in John Williams’ “Angela’s Ashes”, “Munich”, and “Memoirs of a Geisha”, where he performs a duo with his good friend, cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He can also be heard as soloist in Mark Mancina’s score to “August Rush” and Nicholas Glennie-Smith’s score to “Secretariat”. He has been featured by many other composers including Hans Zimmer, Alan Menken, and the late Basil Poledouris. His cello solos have killed-off many guest stars on “ER” (music by Martin Davich) as well as many of the actors in the mini-series, “The Pacific” (music by Zimmer, Blake Neely, and Geoff Zanelli). Stephen was also the solo cellist for the celebrated television series’ “Pushing Daisies” (music by James Dooley). Mr. Erdody resides in Altadena, California with his wife, Juliana and their fifteen-year old son, Daniel. Stephen plays on an 1844 Antonio Gibertini cello and a cello made by Joseph Grubaugh & Sigrun Seifert in 1989, and bows made by William Watson and Paul Martin Siefried. Mr. Erdody is an avid golfer and spends most of his free time trying to lower his handicap to single digits.
March 2013