Dr. Zachary Preucil is currently serving as Interim Artist/Teacher of Cello at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point for the 2023-2024 academic year. He also serves as principal cellist of the La Crosse Symphony and is a founding member of Trio des Éléments along with clarinetist Sarah Manasreh and pianist Katherine Petersen. Additionally, Dr. Preucil maintains a private teaching studio in Madison and online at the Virtu Academy program. Recently, Dr. Preucil has performed with the Quad City Symphony, the Dubuque Symphony, and the Wisconsin Philharmonic, and has appeared on the International Music Foundation’s Rush Hour Concert Series, the International Clarinet Association’s 2023 Clarinetfest, the Mackinac Arts Council’s Performing Arts Concert Series, Midsummer’s Music Festival, Green Lake Music Festival, the MIC Faculty/Guest Artist Series, Concerts in the Shed, Caroga Lake Music Festival, and as a soloist with the Schaumburg Youth Symphony at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. Dr. Preucil has been praised by the press for his “gorgeous phrasing, attractive color, nimble finger work and lyrical quality” (Hyde Park Herald), and his solo and chamber music performances have been broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio and WFMT Chicago.
Previously, Dr. Preucil served on the faculties of Carroll University, the Music Institute of Chicago, the Kanack School of Musical Artistry, Music for Youth of Arlington Heights, and the UW-Madison Community Music School, and has given masterclasses at St. Olaf College, Wheaton College Community School for the Arts, Western Springs School of Talent Education, Community Cello Works of Blacksburg, Virginia, and MIC Winter Workshops. Additionally, he has held teaching assistantships at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a teaching fellowship at the International Cello Institute, where he has subsequently served as a guest clinician and director of the iConnect program for cello students ages nine to fourteen. He has coached chamber music at the Music Institute of Chicago, the Schaumburg Youth Orchestra and Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra programs, and Farley’s Chamber Music Program in Madison.
An enthusiastic writer about music and the arts, Dr. Preucil has contributed blogs and articles to Polyphonic.org, the Paul R. Judy Center, Musicovation.com, the Credo Music Festival, the Chicago Cello Society and Huffington Post Arts. He also served for two years as co-editor of The Penguin, New England Conservatory’s student-run newspaper, and assisted in textbook creation for the iClassical course, Uri Vardi’s Cello Fundamentals. His doctoral research paper, New Perspectives on Cello Pedagogy (available on ProQuest), surveys four cello pedagogy courses and presents an undergraduate/graduate pedagogy course model.
Dr. Preucil holds a D.M.A. in Cello Performance and a minor in Arts Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was inducted into the school’s chapters of Phi Kappa Phi and the National Society for Leadership and Success. He received his M.M. in Cello Performance and an Arts Leadership Certificate from the Eastman School of Music as a Pi Kappa Lambda inductee, and his B.M. in Cello Performance with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music. His primary teachers have included Uri Vardi, David Ying, Yeesun Kim, and Walter Preucil, and he has studied chamber music with members of the Borromeo, Pro Arte, and Ying Quartets. Further education has included summer studies at the Aspen Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, the Castleman Quartet Programs, the National Summer Cello Institute and Interlochen Arts Camp, and registered training in the Suzuki Cello Method with Dr. Tanya Carey, Jean Dexter and Rick Mooney. Dr. Preucil is a certified teacher trainer in the Creative Ability Development improvisation method, having worked extensively with its founder, Alice Kanack. An interest in arts administration led Dr. Preucil to intern with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Midsummer’s Music Festival and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. He serves on the executive board of Creative Ability Development, Inc., and is a member of the Association of Arts Administration Educators, Suzuki Association of the Americas, Madison Area Music Educators, Independent String Teachers of Madison, and the College Music Society.