Cellist Iona Batchelder is a passionate artist and teacher who is deeply committed to fostering a genuine environment of music-making for performers, audiences, and students of all ages. Recent collaborations include a performance with actor Rainn Wilson at the New York Times Climate Forward Event, an appointment as guest lecturer of cello at the University of California, Irvine, and recital appearances on Lincoln Center’s The Art of Wellbeing series. Ms. Batchelder is a section cellist in the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the New York City Ballet, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra Lumos. 

 

Ms. Batchelder was a founding member of the Unison Quartet, which won an Honorary Mention award at the 2021 Bartók World Competition in Budapest, Hungary. She has performed at several festivals including Kneisel Hall, the Perlman Music Program, and the Aspen Music Festival. Always curious to explore different genres and styles of music, Ms. Batchelder has made main stage appearances with a wide variety of artists including Andrea Bocelli, Jon Batiste, Sofia Carson, and Judy Collins, and has also participated in score recording work on Netflix’s “Green Eggs and Ham.”

 

Ms. Batchelder was a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where she graduated with her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees, and a Juilliard Career Advancement Fellowship. Deeply committed to educating the next generation, Ms. Batchelder maintains a private studio in New York City and has been a member of the cello faculty at Suzuki on the Island in Manhasset, New York, since 2022.