I'm Daniel Delaney. I'm a modern improvising cellist, educator, and
composer. I'm a dad, a husband, a teacher, and a lover of sarcasm and absurd humor. My performances have dragged me throughout the United States (kicking and screaming, right...?) as a band leader, sideman, and solo singer/songwriter. I love to travel, love new places and people, but my home is my sanctuary. It's where I create, where I teach, where I daydream, where I avoid sleep.
The Philadelphia Inquirer praised him as
a “master musician… a pleasure to hear”
and Broadway World called him
a “world-class cellist.”
As a studio musician, I've had the privilege of recording with some pretty incredible folks. Recent collaborators and records include
The Welcome Wagon (Tooth and Nail), Beach Slang (Polyvinyl)
Elvira Nikolaisen (SONY), mewithoutYou (Tooth and Nail),
Twin Sister (Domino), Sun Airway (Dead Oceans), and many other great artists, producers, and engineers from whom I've learned so much.
In the 80's and 90's I was growing up and listening to AC-DC, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Phish, Miles Davis, Led Zeppelin, Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel, and more than a little Huey Lewis and the News. Forgive me if I fail to mask my influences; the visceral emotional lens through which I hear the world is vividly colored by these greats and I'm not ashamed of them.
But you'll certainly hear the decades-long impact of endless Popper etudes, Piatti caprices, late night practice of Dvorak and Elgar concertos, and the deep love/hate of the J.S. Bach Suites. Just don't get yourself confused - those guys were making rock music in their own days and in their own ways.
And now, here we are.
cellist, educator
Cello Faculty
cello, chamber music, string pedagogy (2009-14)
Cairn University,
Philadelphia, PA
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Cello Instructor
private and group lessons (since 1996)
Washington, Colorado,
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore/Annapolis
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Director / Principal Studio Cello
Dark Horse Orchestra
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Principal Cello
Wilmington Ballet Orchestra (2010-13)
Wilmington, DE
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Studio Recording Cellist
string arranger, ensemble director, improvisor
see recording credits on "Records" page
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Master of Music
cello performance
Mannes College of Music, NYC
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Bachelor of Music
cello performance
University of Northern Colorado
