UNH Cello Festival 2026
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is pleased to announce the 2026 UNH Cello Festival, a dynamic one-day event inviting cellists from middle school through adult to come together for an immersive experience of learning, performance, and collaboration. From younger developing players to advanced students and adult amateurs, the festival offers a welcoming and inspiring environment to deepen musicianship and connect with fellow cellists from across the region.
Held each spring at UNH’s Paul Creative Arts Center, the UNH Cello Festival is led by Artistic Director and UNH Faculty member Dr. Jacques Lee Wood and features a rich day of activities including a large cello ensemble, masterclasses with UNH faculty, an instrument viewing and discussion with Tom Holdener of Carriage House Violins, and a featured masterclass with Mark Churchill. Participants will also enjoy a concluding concert performed by Mark Churchill and Jacques Lee Wood, offering an inspiring capstone to the day.
The 2026 festival will take place on Saturday, March 7, and is designed to foster artistic growth, technical development, and meaningful musical exchange in a supportive and collegial setting. Whether you are seeking focused feedback, the energy of ensemble playing, or the chance to explore fine instruments and ideas with expert musicians, the UNH Cello Festival offers a rewarding and memorable experience.
Registration opens February 4.
Mark your calendar and join us for a full day celebrating the cello, community, and the joy of music-making at UNH.
For more information and questions about the program, contact: jacques.wood@unh.edu
Date of Event | Time | Grades | Cost | Registration Close Date (unless full earlier) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, March 7 | 9am-5pm | 7th Grade- Adult | $85 | Wednesday, March 4 |
REGISTER HERE
Dr. Jacques Lee Wood, UNHCF director
Dr. Jacques Lee Wood is a Boston-based cellist known for his diverse and dynamic musical career. Wood's performance interests are notably eclectic, encompassing historical performances on period instruments, commissioning new works for both modern and baroque cello, improvisation incorporating live electronics, and composing his own material. He serves as the Principal Cellist of the Cape Symphony and frequently collaborates with esteemed groups such as A Far Cry, Cantata Singers, Yale Schola Cantorum, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Boston Baroque, Bachsolisten Seoul, and Bach Collegium Japan.
Wood holds faculty positions at the University of New Hampshire and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (Intensive Community Program). He has also held faculty residencies at institutions like Yale University, the University of Ulsan, Tufts University, Boston Conservatory, and most recently New York University, University of Sao Paulo–Campinas, Istanbul University, and Istanbul Technical University. Wood actively participates in various festivals and programs, including the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (Yale Summer School), Summer Youth Music School at the University of New Hampshire, the Great Mountains Festival in South Korea, the Korea Strings Research Institute, the Bari International Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Avaloch Farm, Aston Magna, and the Manchester Summer Chamber Music Festival.
As a recording artist, Wood has released works on the Hyperion and Navona labels. He completed his Bachelor of Music at the New England Conservatory of Music under Laurence Lesser and earned both his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University, where he studied with Aldo Parisot.
UNH Cello Festival Featured Guest: Mark Churchill
Dr. Mark Churchill has had the privilege of a long career as cellist, conductor, educator, and innovative thinker. He is Dean Emeritus of New England Conservatory’s Department of Preparatory and Continuing Education (now Expanded Education), which he led for 31 years. Under his leadership, the Preparatory School became known as one of the best programs of its kind in the nation, emphasizing serious, professional training for pre-college students. He established the School of Continuing Education and department of Community Collaborations in addition to numerous community-based programs and local, national, and international partnerships, most notably NEC at Walnut Hill, the Orchestra of the Americas, Project STEP, and El Sistema USA and the Abreu Fellows Program at NEC. In 2021 El Sistema USA established the Mark Churchill Teacher of the Year Award to honor his legacy.
Mark is currently on the faculty of the NEC Preparatory School and has taught at major summer programs including the Heifetz Institute, Musicorda, Cremona International Music Festival, Foulger Institute, and Greenwood Music Camp. As a cellist, he has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and chamber music player throughout the United States and on tours of South America. He has performed as soloist with the NEC Symphony and Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, Hartt Symphony Orchestra, Thayer Conservatory Orchestra, Symphony Pro Musica, and Merrimack Symphony, among others. He has also appeared in Seoul, Hong Kong, and Taiwan with Trio Pro Musica and on tours of New England and Brazil with Trio Pan Americano. In 2016 he was named Cellist of the Year by the Boston Cello Society and in 2005 awarded Harvard’s prestigious Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award.
UNH Cello Festival Guest Speaker: Tom Holdener (Carriage House Violins)
A New York native, Tom has pursued his passion for classical music since the age of nine. He attended the Stony Brook University Pre-College program and spent two summers at the New York State Summer School of the Arts: School of Orchestral Studies. At the latter, he had the privilege of working with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra cello section, including Bill Stokking, Yumi Kendall, and Gloria DePasquale. His earliest private teachers were Sally Sanger and Amy Barston.
Tom received his Bachelor of Music from the Boston Conservatory, where he studied with Andrew Mark. His admiration for chamber music led him to festivals such as Killington Music Festival and the Foulger International Music Festival. He earned his Master of Music degree in Cello Performance at the Colorado State University, where he studied with Barbara Thiem as a Graduate String Quartet Fellow. He was a founding member of the Pluto String Quartet, who performed all over Northern Colorado from 2013-2016. In addition to his work with the Pluto String Quartet, Tom was a regular performer for the Fort Collins Chamber Music Society.
Dr. David Upham (Cello Ensemble Director)
Dr. David Upham is the Director of Orchestral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of New Hampshire, as well as the founding Music Director of the UNH Youth Symphony Orchestras. Locally, Dr. Upham serves as the Music Director of the Great Bay Philharmonic Orchestra. Prior to his arrival in New England, he was active in Seattle, Washington, as a conductor of professional, community, and student ensembles. He served as the Music Director of the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra, taught at the Seattle Conservatory of Music, and worked with the Rainier Symphony Orchestra, the Northwest Mahler Festival, and various professional ballet orchestras. In November 2009, he made his international debut at the French contemporary music festival, Aujourd’hui Musiques.
Dr. Upham’s work also focuses on orchestral music education at all levels, preparing students for careers as public-school orchestra directors and teaching graduate conducting. In 2013, he founded the UNH Youth Symphony Orchestra program, which provides local school children with opportunities to study and perform string instruments while also providing UNH music education students with practical teaching experience. Dr. Upham appears frequently as an educator and clinician at festivals across the country, including the Summer Youth Music School at UNH. His background as a music educator also includes a tenure with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras and a successful ten-year career as a public school music educator.
Dr. Upham received a B.A. in music from Luther College, an M.M. in conducting from the University of Northern Colorado, and a D.M.A. in conducting from the University of Washington.
Jan Fuller
Jan Fuller, described by Lynn Harrell as “a wonderful cellist and musician,” is based in Concord, New Hampshire and began his cello studies at the age of five. He has performed extensively as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician throughout the East Coast, appearing in venues such as Jordan Hall, Sanders Theatre, Symphony Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall.
He has participated in festivals including Interlochen, Tanglewood BUTI, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Meadowmount School of Music, Heifetz International Music Institute, Aspen Music Festival, and the National Summer Cello Institute, working with artists such as Steven Doane, Uri Vardi, Lynn Harrell, Hans Jensen, Franz Helmerson, Ralph Kirshbaum, Christoph Henkel, Antonio Lysy, Desmond Hoebig, Darrett Adkins, Richard Aaron, and members of the Ying Quartet.
A dedicated teacher, Jan continues to work with his former teacher Harel Gietheim as an assistant during summers at the Manchester Community Music School. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Timothy Eddy. His former teachers include Harel Gietheim and Natasha Brofsky. Jan performs on a cello made in 2007 by William Whedbee.
Carol Ou
An award-winning cellist and teacher, Carol Ou is known for her “fiery, marvelous" and "meltingly melodic outpourings” (Boston Globe) and her “wonderfully pure cello tone and incisive technique.” (The Strad) A founding member of Trio Flamecrest, Carol was a member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet and a longtime duo partner of legendary violinist James Buswell. Her solo and chamber music concerts have taken her to prestigious concert venues across the globe, including Carnegie Weill Hall, Jordan Hall, National Gallery of Art, Gardner Museum, National Concert Hall in Kiev, and the National Concert Hall of Taipei.
At ease with the diverse musical styles of the last five centuries, Ms. Ou’s creative programming balances traditional European masterworks with more contemporary and eclectic ones. She has recorded three of the most beloved cello concerti by Haydn, Tchaikovsky, and Elgar, and premiered Taiwanese composer – Hsiao Tyzen’s Cello Concerto in Taipei, Taiwan. Her decade-long collaboration with Iranian composer Reza Vali has yielded numerous performances, premieres, and recordings of a dozen of his solo and string quartet works and his Cello Concerto: The Dervish and The Magus. Along with Hsiao, who wrote most of his cello works for her, American composers Richard Toensing and Daniel Pinkham, have also dedicated chamber works to her. Recent crossover music performances have featured collaborations with artists on mandolin, banjo, accordion, didgeridoo, erhu, pipa, and the Persian santoor.
UNH Cello Festival Schedule 2026
Saturday, March 7
Paul Creative Arts Center
University of New Hampshire
8:30–9:00 a.m.
Check-in & warm-up
9:00–10:15 a.m.
Cello ensemble (75 minutes)
Conducted by Dr. David Upham
10:15–10:30 a.m.
Break
10:30–11:30 a.m.
Instrument viewing & talk
Tom Holdener, Carriage House Violins
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Lunch break
(Extended time for instrument and bow trials and informal conversation)
1:00–2:30 p.m.
UNHCF Faculty masterclasses (90 minutes)
2:45–4:45 p.m.
Featured masterclass (2 hours)
Mark Churchill
5:00–5:30 p.m.
Concert
Mark Churchill & Jacques Lee Wood
