Here’s another Ed Willett, this one a noted cellist:
Ed Willett earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California School of Music in Los Angeles, California. He is a cellist, guitarist, composer, arranger, and vocalist.
During his education at U.S.C., he studied with cellist Eleanor Schoenfeld. While in Los Angeles, he was chosen to participate in the world renowned Piatigorsky master class for cellists. There he studied with Zara Nelsova, Joel Krosnick and Erling Bengston.
He has been a member of many symphony orchestras, including the Honolulu Symphony, the Pasadena Symphony, the Glendale Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, and as co-principal of the U.S.C. Symphony, conducted by Daniel Lewis. He toured for several years for Columbia Artists Management with the Clarion Trio as part of their Community Concert Series. In 1999 he premiered his cello concerto, commissioned by the Chequamegon Bay Area Symphony. Mr. Willett performed with the 87-performance tour “Spirit”, the nationally touring Native American/rock ballet written by film composer Peter Buffet. This summer, with the house band for the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua, he performed with Howard Levy (formerly of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones).
With Cheryl Leah, this Ed Willett founded the long-standing vocal/cello duo Chance. Here’s a recent review:
They have brought together talent, background experience, and excellence of judgment. Ed’s mastery of the cello clearly is based in disciplined musicianship(Univ. of Southern California). A high caliber cellist! When his voice joins wife Cheryl’s, their expressive songs perfectly depict moods of often-surprising content. Cheryl’s wide-range voice unfailingly picks tones without any pitch cues (showing her Jazz experience). Their linear interactions form enlightened harmonic movements of balanced consonance and dissonance.
I’ve actually got one of their CDs (how could I resist)? Good stuff, and I highly recommend it. You can buy their music here.
