Hilary Metzger is a professional cellist who lives in Paris and performs on period instruments with internationally known ensembles throughout Europe, Asia and North America. She teaches historical performance from both a practical and theoretical perspective. Her research focuses on string playing and orchestral practice in the 19th century. In recent years, she has been increasingly engaged in directing musical projects that build ties between diverse members of a given community.
Curriculum Vitae
Hilary Metzger was born in New York City. She received her BA in musicology at Yale University while studying cello with Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music, and her Masters and Doctorate in cello performance with Timothy Eddy at the Mannes College of Music and at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Thanks to a US government Fulbright grant, an award from the Fondation des Etats-Unis in Paris, and a grant from the Beebe Foundation, she studied baroque cello in France with David Simpson and Christophe Coin, receiving unanimous premier prix from the Paris Conservatory. Currently, she plays regularly with the Orchestre des Champs Elysées (Philippe Herreweghe); Anima Eterna (Jos van Immerseel); Le Concert Spirituel (Hervé Niquet); Teatro Nuovo (Will Crutchfield and Jakob Lehmann); Opéra Fuoco (David Stern) and performs chamber music with members of these groups.
Ms Metzger is frequently invited to perform and lecture on issues of historical performance at institutions throughout Europe as well as in Asia and in the United States. She is on the faculty at the Ecole Nationale de Musique de Villeurbanne (near Lyon) and teaches at the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique Masters degree program at Saintes and the Université of Poitiers. In 2020, she has a received a residency research grant from the Orpheus Institute in Ghent (Belgium) to study secco recitative realization by cellists in the 19th century.