Daniel Ketter recently completed a DMA in Cello Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music and is currently a PhD candidate in Music Theory. Since 2013, at Eastman, he has been a classroom instructor for aural skills and music theory and has served as teaching assistant for Alan Harris’s cello studio. His current research interests include analytical approaches to solo melodic instrumental music, essential voices in Schenkerian theory, and a collaboration with the Natural History of Song. Recent performance projects have included a lecture recital, titled “Heinrich Schenker, Author of J. S. Bach’s Solo Cello Suites,” performing as co-director and cellist for Sunset Concerts of Rochester, NY, and performing as co-director and cellist for a new music initiative called Music in the American Wild. The American Wild Ensemble recently recorded a two-hour album of eleven original works to be released in spring 2018 under the ArtistShare label. With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, these works were commissioned and performed for a tour of seven national parks celebrating the centennial of the National Park Service in 2016.

 In Rochester, Daniel teaches cello and chamber music at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance and co-directs the Eastman Cello Ensemble. This summer, Daniel will be teaching music theory at Eastman, presenting at the Eastman Leadership Academy and Eastman Cello Institute, and returning to North Cascades National Park Complex with the American Wild Ensemble for a series of performances and educational events. Daniel has a MM in cello performance and pedagogy from the Peabody Conservatory and graduated with high distinction from both the Eastman School of Music (BM ’10, cello performance) and from the University of Rochester (BA ’10, mathematics).