Sterling Elliott Makes Brilliant AMP Debut

Sterling Elliott performing with the AMP Summer Series Festival Orchestra on Opening Night.

Superstar cellist Sterling Elliott made a brilliant debut at AMP. On Friday June 9 – the Opening Night of the AMP Summer Series – Mr. Elliott performed the Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor by Camille Saint-Saens, with the AMP Summer Series Festival Orchestra, under the direction of John Young Shik Concklin. Mr. Elliott, 24 years old, performed to a sold-out audience at Sylvan Hills Middle School. He received several standing ovations, and performed an encore.

L to R: John Young Shik Concklin, conductor; Aisha Moody, Co-Founder & Chief Program Officer of AMP; Sterling Elliott; Dantes Rameau, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of AMP.

Mr. Elliott’s performance was part of his two-day artistic residency at the Atlanta Music Project, which included giving a masterclass for AMP’s cello students, a Fireside Chat with Terrance McKnight of WQXR, New York City’s only classical music radio station, a private mentorship session with AMP Summer Series students, and finally his solo performance with the AMP Summer Series Festival Orchestra.

AMP student cellist Faith Clark performs Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 during Sterling Elliott’s masterclass.

Mr. Elliott, who won the Sphinx Competition at just 19 years of age, is currently an Artist Diploma student at The Juilliard School. He also earned his Bachelor and Master of Music at same institution. He has been on the concert circuit since high school and has performed as soloist with most of the major symphony orchestras in the country, including the Los Angels Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

With this amazing breadth of artistic experience, Mr. Elliott heard four AMP student cellists perform and provided them with feedback, all in a public forum at the AMP Center. All the students and attendees received insight on how Mr. Elliott approaches music and playing cello. They also had the pleasure of hearing him demonstrate some of the music that the cello students presented. When the master artist demonstrates, that is always a highlight of a masterclass!

Terrance McKnight and Sterling Elliott during their Fireside Chat, part of Sterling’s residency at the AMP Summer Series.

During an intimate fireside chat at the AMP Center for Performance & Education, moderated by Terrance McKnight, Mr. Elliott shared how his mother is responsible for his early start in music. He explained that in his formative years, he played in a string quartet with his siblings, and they performed informal concerts around town at malls, libraries and more. A surprise bonus for those in attendance, Mr. Elliott performed a short, unaccompanied solo, which he would end up performing as an encore at Opening Night.

For more on the AMP Summer Series. For more on Sterling Elliott.