Stephen Perkyns, cello

Stephen Perkyns, a native of Houston, Texas, joined the New York City Ballet as Principal Cellist in the Fall of 2022. Stephen has served as guest principal cellist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New York Pops. He has also served as principal cellist in the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria, Yale Philharmonia, the Colburn Orchestra, and the Shepherd School of Music Chamber Orchestra, and has performed in leading venues such as Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Perkyns was a founding member of the Hart String Quartet which won chamber music competitions such as Colburn’s Recovered Voices Competition. He has also participated in concert series such as the Colburn Chamber Music Society, Core Memory Music, and the Hudson Valley Music Club, and has collaborated with artists such as Noah Bendix-Balgley, Desmond Hoebig, Kathleen Winkler, Scott St. John, Paul Coletti, the Viano String Quartet, and the Cassatt Quartet.

Mr. Perkyns has given several solo recitals and performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Yale Philharmonia and the New York City Ballet Orchestra. With the New York City Ballet Orchestra, he most recently played the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor for the World Premier of the ballet Beneath the Tides choreographed by Caili Quan. Mr. Perkyns has been a finalist and prize winner in many regional, state, and national competitions, including the 2019 Pasadena Showcase Competition, the 2017 HTMC Ruth Burr Competition, and the 2017 Mika Hasler National Competition.

Stephen Perkyns most recently graduated with his Master of Musical Arts degree at the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Paul Watkins and was a recipient of the 2022 Aldo Parisot Prize. Previously, Mr. Perkyns studied with Clive Greensmith at the Colburn Conservatory where he received his Masters of Music degree in 2020, and Desmond Hoebig at Rice University, Shepherd School of Music, graduating in 2018 with a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance.