Biography

Born in Seattle and living in Montréal, Elinor Frey is a leading Canadian-American cellist, viola da gambist, and researcher. Her albums on Passacaille Records, Channel Classics, and Analekta  – many of which are world premiere recordings – include Giuseppe Clemente Dall’Abaco Cello Sonatas, recipient 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 are published in collaboration with Walhall Editions. 

Elinor is the artistic director of Accademia de’ Dissonanti, an organization for performance and research. She has performed as a soloist 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, Asheville Symphony, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Rosa Barocca, Il Gardellino, and Pacific Baroque Orchestra, among others.

Recipient of dozens of grants and prizes supporting performance and research, including the US-Italy Fulbright Fellowship, Elinor benefited from 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. 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 and “Influence Abroad” in 2026.