Heralded as “one of the great leading cellists of the classical stage” by the Wall Street Journal, Wendy Sutter has proven herself as one of the foremost and diverse soloists of her generation. Having performed widely on five continents, she has been acclaimed by critics in all major publications including The New York Times, Strad Magazine, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The San Francisco Chronicle.
Ms. Sutter has appeared frequently as soloist with such orchestras as The Dallas Symphony, The Seattle Symphony, The Colorado Symphony, The Hong Kong Philharmonic, The Brussels Philharmonic, The Shanghai Symphony, The Shenzhen Symphony, The Royal Residentie Orchestra of the Hague, The Tucson Symphony, The Northern Netherlands Orchestra, The Juilliard Symphony, The Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, The La Jolla Symphony. She toured as soloist with The Youth Orchestra of the Americas and The Shanghai Symphony throughout China, South America and The United States of America. As soloist, she has served under many esteemed conductors, including Jaap Van Zweden, Marin Alsop, Gerard Schwarz, Dante Anziolini, Mikhail Jurowski, Michel Tabachnik and Tan Dun.
“A muse and music star all in one, Wendy Sutter is establishing herself as one of the great cellists of the classical stage.”
Ms. Sutter appears regularly at numerous festivals in Europe, Canada, Asia and the United States, including Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, Spoleto, Ravinia, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society and Classical Tahoe. In addition, she has played countless solo recitals worldwide including venues such as The Barbican, Carnegie Hall, Bargemusic, Lincoln Center, and Death of Classical, NYC.
Equally accomplished in the world of contemporary music, Ms. Sutter has been the recipient and dedicatee of nearly 20 new works for solo cello written by some the most preeminent composers of the day, including Philip Glass, Don Byron, John King and Martin Matalon. Of note, Philip Glass’s first ever solo string suite ’ Songs and Poems 'written for Sutter by Glass in 2007, drew praise from audiences and critics world-wide and to great acclaim, was voted best new CD of the year by listeners of National Public and became the second-best selling download in the classical division on I -Tunes. Greg Sandow described her performance of the Glass Suite in the Wall Street Journal in fulsome terms: “Sutter throws herself into the music with something like ferocity, playing each repetition as an intensification of the one before. Or maybe sheʼs just so intense that everything feels new. And so the music never stands still.” Her San Francisco premiere of this work at the Herbst Theater was voted the best performance of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle (2007) and her recording of this work to date has sold over 85,000 downloads. Her recent NYC premiere (2022) of “Songs and Poems 2” for solo cello, also written for her by Philip Glass, again received rave reviews and quickly sold out a three-night run at the phenomenal series ‘Death of Classical’. In the summer of 2020, Ms. Sutter performed the entire Solo Bach Suite Cycle, in one day, from The Judson Church , NYC to an online audience of over 10,000 viewers. This event was advertised as “The Musical Event of The Week” by the New York Times.
In addition, again upon invitation from the composer himself, Tan Dun and Ms. Sutter toured extensively in 2003, with the composer/ conductor at the podium, performing all his solo concerti including the Oscar Academy Award winning score “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” cello and “The Map” concerto and “Water Passion”. Ms. Sutter toured these works throughout China, the USA and Asia, and at Kennedy Center as soloist with the Shanghai Symphony.
Immediately following her studies at The Juilliard School, Ms. Sutter was invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov himself, to be the solo on- stage cellist accompanying during the creation of the new ballet ‘A Suite of Dances ‘ choreographed by the legendary Jerome Robbins. Following the world premiere of this ballet (1994) performed at State Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City, Sutter and Baryshnikov performed this piece over 100 times together, on all continents and frequently as guest artists with the NYC Ballet at Lincoln Center.
Of her many solo performances, Ms. Sutter was invited to appear in recital for Bill and Melinda Gates at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. She also performed all the Britten Suites for solo cello in one evening in Seattle and New York City and at The Winspear Opera House in Dallas, and recently performed the entire Beethoven works for cello and piano at Bargemusic, NYC.
Ms. Sutter plays on a Giovanni Battista Ceruti Circa 1810.