Biography of Musica Bella Orchestra member James Mark Pedersen

James Mark Pedersen, violoncello, has been active in orchestral, opera, and chamber music performing since moving to New York in 1988. He studied composition at DePaul University in Chicago, and his principal cello teachers were Gilda Barston at DePaul, Leonore Glazer of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Diane Chaplin of the Colorado Quartet. In Chicago, he was the executive director of the Loop Group, a contemporary-music ensemble founded by Raymond Wilding-White. Chamber music coaching and master classes have been with Frank Miller, Milton Preves, Eugene Drucker, Ruth Laredo, Marc Johnson, Jacob Glick, and the Colorado Quartet.       Mr. Pedersen has performed with many orchestras in the New York region, including the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, the Staten Island Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Bronx (formerly the Bronx Chamber Orchestra), the Bronx Opera, and One World Symphony. He has played principal cello for the Bloomingdale Chamber Orchestra (where he was also general manager), the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, Regina Opera, the Musica Bella Orchestra, the Bronx Symphony Orchestra, and One World Symphony. He has appeared as soloist with the Musica Bella Orchestra, One World Symphony, and the Bronx Symphony Orchestra. His extensive experience in music theater covers a repertoire of nearly fifty operas and operettas. He has also appeared as guest artist with the Colorado Quartet and the Marian Anderson Quartet.       As Assistant Apprentice Program Director, Mr. Pedersen teaches theory, conducts master classes, coaches chamber music, and lectures on contemporary music at the Soundfest Music Festival and Quartet Institute, Falmouth, Massachusetts, where he is also a member of the Soundfest Faculty Trio and the Soundfest Chamber Orchestra. In June 2007, he will appear as soloist with Ms. Chaplin in Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Cellos with that orchestra. He was also on the faculty at The Bard College Quartet Institute in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He plays a 1694 cello by the great Italian master Giovanni Battista Rogeri.       With Musica Bella, he has soloed in the Vivaldi Double Concerto in our Debut Concerts on January 27, 2002, and in the Haydn C-Major Concerto on June 17 and 18, 2006. CHARTER MEMBER OF MUSICA BELLA Musica Bella concerts: January 20, 2002; January 27, 2002; October 13, 2002; December 8, 2002; March 23, 2003; May 18, 2003; November 30, 2003; February 29, 2004 (attended all rehearsals, intended to play concert, had to miss it because of illness, so we given him credit); May 2, 2004; October 24, 2004; January 30, 2005; February 21, 2005; March 13, 2005; May 14, 2005; May 21, 2006; May 21, 2006; June 17, 2006; June 18, 2006; July 8, 2006; October 22, 2006; December 10, 2006; January 20, 2007; January 21, 2007 This bio last updated May 23, 2006.