Society of Peabody Alumni
Citation for the Peabody Distinguished Alumni Award
Presented to
Zuill Bailey
October 25, 2014
Zuill Bailey, your career exemplifies the kind of musician that Peabody aims to produce: a multifaceted performer with a keen interest in the next generation of artists.
As a solo artist, you have performed with major orchestras across the country and throughout the world. From Disney Hall to Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center to Lincoln Center, your work literallytraverses the country, and, taking into account performances at the United Nations, at least symbolically, the world.
As a recording artist, your CD of Bach Cello Suites garnered immediate recognition when it reached the top of the Classical Billboard charts, a bolt of lightning newly struck with your recent recording of Benjamin Britten’s Cello Symphony and Cello Sonata.
A recipient of the Classical Recording Foundation Award for 2006 and 2007, for which you recorded Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, your playing has broadcast on NPR, the BBC, and XM and Satellite Radio.
Moreover, your work can be seen on camera, on HBO (your recurring stint on the hit show “Oz”), NBC, A&E, NHK TV in Japan, and in a live broadcast from Tel Aviv, performing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Israel Philharmonic, conducted by Itzhak Perlman.
Your ensemble work, however, has not been neglected, whether you are performing with fellow Peabody graduate, pianist Awadagin Pratt, or leading the Northwest Bach Festival in a series of chamber performances.
Of course, you also happen to be the artistic director of the Northwest Bach Festival, in Washington State, as well as El Paso Pro-Musica, and the Sitka Summer Music Festival, in Alaska. A rather disparate array of cities, it seems, in which you are working to provide great music. El Paso actually benefits doubly from your musical talent, this time in your capacity as Professor of Cello at the University of Texas.
Zuill Bailey, you have exemplified the Johns Hopkins tradition of excellence and brought credit to the Peabody Conservatory and University throughout your career. It is for all this that The Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association confers upon you the honor of the Distinguished Alumni Award.
