Elizabeth Start is a composer, cellist, arts administrator, and union officer, currently dividing her time between Kalamazoo MI and the Chicago area.

In Michigan, she is a cellist with the Kalamazoo Symphony, Executive Director of the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music (a 501(c)(3) arts organization), and Secretary/Treasurer of the Kalamazoo Federation of Musicians, Local 228, AFM. Her work “Traces” was commissioned by the Kalamazoo Symphony for their 100th anniversary season.

In Illinois she is a cellist with with the Elgin Symphony, and a member of the Chicago Composers’ Consortium and Chicago Musicians Club of Women. She is also a member of the International Alliance of Women in music and has provided CD reviews for their journal.

As a performer, she has premiered over 100 works. As a composer, she has received numerous grants and commissions and over 500 performances of over 140 works in the U.S. and abroad. While living in Chicago, she performed with Ralph Shapey’s Contemporary Chamber Players, on chamber concerts of new music at Orchestra Hall with members of the CSO, for American Women Composers, CUBE, and New Music Chicago.

She has taught cello, acoustics, composition, music history and theory, world music, music appreciation and basic mathematics at institutions including Columbia College, Depaul University, Elgin Suzuki, and Kalamazoo College.

Her education includes a B.A in mathematics and B.Mus in cello from Oberlin College and Conservatory, master’s degrees in cello and theory/composition from Northern Illinois University, and a PhD in composition from the University of Chicago.

Albums

Dashing Vol. 2

Release Date: November 12, 2021
Catalog Number: NV6374
21st Century
Baroque
Holiday
Orchestra
Piano
Saxophone
Navona Records presents DASHING VOL. 2, a festive assortment of new classical and jazz arrangements and compositions inspired by staples of the holiday season. Unwrap this gift from Sarah Wallin Huff, Joseph Turrin, Kristina Marinova, Jordan VanHemert, David W. Solomons, Elizabeth J. Start, Alan Rinehart, and Joseph T. Spaniola to find a variety of new works and familiar favorites. All of the traditional holiday sounds are featured in this album, embellished with distinguished compositional twists that complement seasonal standards. Experience the holidays in a refreshing way with reharmonizations of Silent Night, Carol Of The Bells for solo guitar, a jazz arrangement of Christmas Time is Here, and more.

Division of Memory

Release Date: October 8, 2021
Catalog Number: NV6373
21st Century
Chamber
Cello
Piano
Navona Records presents DIVISION OF MEMORY, a comprehensive collection featuring a variety of sound production methods displayed on the cello by Thomas Mesa. The works of composers Lydia Jane Pugh, George Holloway, Ben Yee-Paulson, Jonathan Chenette, and Elizabeth Start are featured on this album, each with their own compositional personality and a repertoire dedicated to the multifaceted soundscape of the cello.