Cellist Evelyn Elsing’s two summers at the National Music Camp while in her teens determined her decision to follow a musical career path. After attending University of Michigan and Juilliard, she enjoyed teaching at the camp for several summers. She joined the faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the Washington, DC area became her home for over forty years. She retired as Professor Emeritus of Cello and Chamber Music in 2014.
Miss Elsing accumulated recognitions as a prize-winner in the Munich International Cello Competition, a finalist in the Tchaikovsky Competition, and a prize-winner in the International String Competition sponsored by the Friday Morning Music Club in Washington, DC, among others. She was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Recital Soloist Grant and multiple recognitions from the American String Teachers Association. A Creative and Performing Arts Award from the University of Maryland resulted in a recording project, in collaboration with pianist Santiago Rodriguez and
released on the Centaur label, that includes the complete works for cello and piano by Rachmaninoff and Ginastera. She also may be heard on recordings on the Orion, Fontec, Albany, and Innova labels.
Miss Elsing has collaborated with the Cleveland, Guarneri, and Muir Quartets. She is a founding member of the Ecco Trio, a piano trio with whom she toured Japan and the United States; and the Left Bank Quartet, which gained a loyal following in the Washington, DC area. She has performed at such venues as Dvorak Hall in Prague, Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Festspielhaus in Vienna, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, San Marco Cathedral in Venice, Alice Tully, Weil, and Merkin Halls in New York City, and the Library of Congress, Phillips Collection, Corcoran Gallery, and Kennedy Center in the Washington, DC area. She has participated in the summer festivals of Spoleto, Italy, Salzburg, Austria, Aspen, the Library of Congress, and Ravinia.
For fifteen years, Miss Elsing was principal cellist of the Handel Festival Orchestra. She was a regular performer with the historic Theater Chamber Players, an organization led by Dina Koston and Leon Fleischer that championed contemporary music and inspired the creation of the Left Bank Concert Society, of which she was a Co-Artistic Director for over ten years. She also was principal cellist with the Post Classical Ensemble of Washington, DC, and the Chamber Artists of Baltimore.