Zela Terry
She laughed when I asked why she chose the cello. "My elder sisters had already chosen the piano and violin so I didn't have much choice. But once I started playing the cello I fell in love with its sound and dexterity and still today find it a beautiful instrument to play".
Her professional career began when she was nineteen as the youngest member of the Pittsburgh Symphony - a distinction renewed two seasons later when she joined the New York Philharmonic under the muscial director Zubin Mehta. During those formative years she recorded and travelled extensively while benefitting from her work with conductors such as Bernstein, Previn, Ormandy, Kubelik, Tennstedt, Leinsdorf and Levine. Concurrently and in following years she was principal cellist in numerous orchestras and festivals around the New York area and throughout the United States.Over the years she has played in many countries and made frequent ensemble recordings and broadcasts, ranging in scope from cello and piano duos through to trios, quartets and beyond. She was awarded prestigious performance prizes during her studies in California and at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, and later assumed teaching positions at Sarah Lawrence College and the Harlem School of the Arts.
Parallel to her busy career in classical music, Zela explained that she has always devoted time to other realms of expression. So it is that she has recorded with renowned artists such as Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, and played for musical comedy hits on Broadway such as "Cats" and "Les Misérables". She also founded the highly original "Ambrosia Cello Quartet", an ensemble dedicated to the performance of Renaissance to Contemporary music and embracing a wide range of improvisatory and New Age styles.
Through her uncle, legendary trumpeter Clark Terry, Zela began a life-long association with prominent figures in the world of jazz. During her New York years she was a member of the Max Roach Double Quartet, a group dedicated to the innovative blending of a traditional string quartet with a progressive jazz ensemble.
After so many achievements in America, her musical talents led her to Europe where she decided to come and live, and continue her career. Travelling with her cello, an 18th century instrument made by Carlo Antonio Testore, her first stepping stone was Germany as associate principal of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra under Karl Münchinger, and later became the solo continuo cellist of Helmuth Rilling's Internazionale Bach Akademie. During several seasons she toured Europe with these ensembles as well as with the internationally acclaimed Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
In 1990 Zela accepted the position of Principal Cello Soloist with the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra. In that capacity she has given frequent concerto performances with the orchestra of works by Haydn, Strauss, Brahms, Saint-Saëns, Honegger, Martinu and Ibert. In addition, through her local affiliation with Sryinx Concerts and the Chagall Museum Series, she has been privileged to perform with many distinguished artists, including pianists Philippe Bianconi and François-René Duchâble, cellists Gary Hoffman and Janos Starker.
Now, 18 years later, she is still here enjoying both the life she has carved oout for herself on the Cote d'Azur and her professional musical career. "There are times when my days are extremely tiring, when rehersals prior to a performance seem to go on forever. And then I step outside the Opera House and the Mediterranean sea is there, blending into an incredible blue sky and the light is just amazing - and I'm immediately revived."
As I step outside the Negresco Hotel and gaze at the sea, I know exactly what she means.
