Cellist Eli Kaynor is a touring musician who has recently relocated to Portsmouth, NH. As an active teaching artist and performer, Eli’s professional career encompasses the full gamut of musical genres, including chamber, orchestral, solo, ethnic, folk, and rock. Eli is an active Teaching Artist at Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC), where he also serves as Director of Development. Through his work, both at and away from the instrument, Eli spends his time building audiences and fostering community relationships.
Eli is a member of the Winston-Salem Symphony in North Carolina; the Acting Associate Principal Cellist of the Lynchburg Symphony in Virginia; and he performs locally with both the Portsmouth Symphony and Great Bay Philharmonic Orchestras. Over the summer, Eli is a frequent member of Opera North, the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and Point CounterPoint. He also sits on the teaching artist roster for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. As a freelancer, Eli has performed shows with such pop-rock artists as Disturbed, Evanescence, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Josh Groban.
In 2017, Eli was one of six Kenan Fellows to complete a teaching artist training program at Lincoln Center Education. Eli’s other credentials include a Professional Artist Certificate and a Master of Music degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), and a Bachelor of Music degree from Chapman University in Orange, CA.
Outside of music, Eli enjoys hiking and running, playing contradances with his family, reading comic books, and habitual overuse of the Oxford comma.
Click here to contact Eli about freelance performance opportunities.
Click here to view Eli's resume.
Click here to view Eli's curriculum vitae.
Repertoire
Major Concerti:
Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto in C Major, Hob. VIIb/1
Dmitry Kabalevsky: Cello Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Opus 49
Saint Saens: Concerto in A minor
Dmitri Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Opus 107
Robert Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor, Opus 129
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33
Sonatas:
Brahms E minor Sonata (complete)
Crumb Sonata for Cello Solo (complete)
Hindemith Sonata for Solo Cello (complete)
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 4 Op. 102 in C Major (complete)
Beethoven Cello Sonata No. 2 Op. 5 in G minor (Rondo, Allegro)
Boccherini Sonata No. 4 in La maggiore, G.4 for Cello and Bass (complete)
Boccherini Sonata No. 5 in Sol maggiore, G. 5 for Cello and Bass (complete)
Boccherini Sonata No. 6 in Do maggiore, G. 6 for Cello and Bass (complete)
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Sonate II in D Major, Op. 58 (mvmt. 1)
Orchestral Experience:
All the Brandenburg Concertos by J. S. Bach
Edvard Grieg: Holberg Suite, Op. 40
W. A. Mozart: Divertimento in D, K. 136
Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 in E minor (From the New World)
Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 2, Op. 73
Benjamin Britten: A Simple Symphony
Nino Rota: Concerto for Strings
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphonies No. 4, 5, 6
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Souvenirs de Florence
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings
Ottorino Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite 3
Ernest Bloch: Concerto Grosso for String Orchestra and Piano Obligato
Leonard Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
Johannes Brahms: Tragic Overture
Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies No. 1, 2, 5, 7
Maurice Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
Giuseppe Verdi: La Traviata (Prelude and Act 2 Finale)
Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus (Act 2)
Felix Mendelssohn: The Hebrides Overture, Op. 26 (Fingal’s Cave)
W.A. Mozart: Ch’io mi scordi di te?
W.A. Mozart: Piano Concerto in E-flat K. 449
Johannes Brahms: Rhapsodie, Op. 53
Johannes Brahms: Schicksalslied, Op. 54
Franz Schubert: Magnificat, D. 486
Ottorino Respighi: Trittico Botticelliano (mvmt. 1, La Primavera)
Manuel de Falla: The Three Cornered Hat (Suites No. 1 and 2)
Charles T. Griffes: Three Poems of Fiona Macleod
John Corigliano: Fern Hill
Ludwig van Beethoven: Mass in C, Op. 86
W.A. Mozart: Ave verum corpus
Samuel Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915, op. 24
Charles E. Ives: Three Places in New England
Igor Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks Concerto in E-flat
Osvaldo Golijov: Last Round for Double String Quartet and Bass
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5, Op. 47
Benjamin Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Christopher Theofinidis: Rainbow Body
Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird
Chamber Music:
Bela Bartok: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 17 (complete)
Samuel Barber: String Quartet Opus 11 (mvmt. 2)
Zoltán Kodály: Duo für Violine und Violoncello op. 7 (complete)
Antonin Dvorak: Quintet in G Major, Opus 77 (mvmt. 1-2)
Erno v. Dohnanyi: Serenade in C Major, Opus 10 (complete)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Quintet, op. 57 (complete)
Felix Mendelssohn: Quartet, Op. 80, F minor (mvmt. 1)
Charles Ives: Quartet, No. 1 (mvmt. 1-2)
Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet in F Major, No. 3, Op. 73 (complete)
W.A. Mozart: Quintet for Clarinet & Strings in A Major, K. 581 (complete)
Joseph Haydn: Quartet No.1, Op.71 (mvmt. 1-2)
A. Piazzolla: Four, For Tango
W.A. Mozart: Divertimento for Violin, Viola, & Cello (complete)
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio in D Major, Opus 70, No. 1 (complete)
Johannes Brahms: Quintet Nr. 2 in G Major, Op. 111 (mvmt. 1-2)
Johannes Brahms: Quartet No.2 Op.51 (mvmt. 1)
Alex Zemlinsky: Trio in D minor, Op. 3 (complete)
Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2 (complete)
Franz Schubert: Quintet in C, D 956 – op. post. 163 (complete)
William Walton: String Quartet in A minor (mvmt. 1)
C. M. von Weber: Trio for Piano, Flute, & Violoncello G minor, Op. 63 (complete)
Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4 (complete)
Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet Op. 13, No. 2 (complete)
W. A. Mozart: String Quartet No. 13 in G Major, K. 387 (complete)
Erwin Schulhoff: Fünf Stücke für Streichquartett (complete)
Aleksandr Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 (complete)
George Gershwin: Lullaby
William Bolcom: Incineratorag
Other Works:
Benjamin Britten Suite No. 1 for Cello, Opus 72
David Johnson: Dark Wing (2003)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Pezzo Capriccioso
Piatti Caprices No. 1-4
Max Bruch: Kol Nidrei
Daniel van Goens: Scherzo Op. 12, No. 2
J. S. Bach: Cello Suites No. 1-5 (complete)
J. S. Bach: Cello Suite No. 6 (various mvmts.)
Faure: Elegie Op. 24 in C minor
Ludwig van Beethoven: 7 Variations on the theme “Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen” WoO 46