Texas based baroque cellist and viola da gamba player, Sydney ZumMallen, is currently a doctoral candidate at UT Austin. As an active performer, you can find her playing with many baroque ensembles including Harmonia Stellarum, La Follia Baroque, American Baroque Opera Company, and many more. She is also a proud founder of the Early Birds Baroque Ensemble. Sydney has been part of multiple recording projects including the Dallas Bach Society’s Messiah, Dallas Bach Society’s St John Passion, and Rebecca Nelson’s album Do Not Lament.
Sydney’s commitment to share early music with the world has taken her across four continents including tours in Puerto Rico, Peru, Colombia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Czechia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Taiwan, and New Zealand with prominent early music figures and ensembles. Additionally, she is a passionate teacher of early music. She was previously an adjunct faculty member at UNT where she taught baroque cello, viola da gamba, historical ornamentation, and early chamber music. You can find her teaching at the Texas Toot in the fall and summer.
Sydney completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of North Texas, a year of studies at The Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and received a master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Phoebe Carrai and Sarah Cunningham. During her years at The Juilliard School she was the winner of Juilliard’s inaugural baroque cello concerto competition, making her New York solo debut with Juilliard415 at Alice Tully Hall in New York.
In her free time, Sydney enjoys baking and sitting on the couch with her cats.