Biography

Born in Seattle and living in Montréal, Elinor Frey is a leading American-Canadian cellist, gambist, and researcher. Her albums on the Belgian label Passacaille and Canadian label Analekta – many of which are world premiere recordings – include Giuseppe Clemente Dall’Abaco Cello Sonatas, winner of a Diapason d’Or, and Early Italian Cello Concertos, winner of the 2023 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year (small ensemble). Her critical editions of Dall’Abaco’s cello music is published in collaboration with Walhall Editions.

Elinor is the artistic director of Accademia de’ Dissonanti, an organization for performance and research. She has performed throughout the Americas and in Europe in recital and with numerous chamber ensembles and orchestras including the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, London Symphonia (ON), Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Symphony Nova Scotia, Rosa Barocca, Il Gardellino, Tafelmusik, and Pacific Baroque Orchestra, among others.

Recipient of dozens of grants and prizes supporting performance and research, including the US-Italy Fulbright Fellowship, a research residency at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent, and a collaborative research project in 2025 with musicologist Nicholas Baragwanath working on using hexachordal solfeggio in practice, supported by CALQ and UK Impact Accelerator grants. Elinor holds degrees from McGill, Mannes, and Juilliard. She teaches Baroque cello and performance practice at McGill University and the Université de Montréal and was a Visiting Fellow in Music (2020–2023) at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University. Frey was awarded Québec’s Opus Prize for “Performer of the Year” in 2021.

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