Khari Joyner, cello

Described by the New York Times as “eloquently plangent, making a powerful impact,” Khari Joyner has a following both nationally and abroad as a versatile concert cellist, chamber musician, and ambassador for the arts. He has made numerous guest appearances with orchestras and ensembles across the world, including two recent performances of both Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto in A Minor and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which received rave reviews. In 2020, he joined the faculty as Assistant Professor of Cello at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory.

In 2017 Joyner received a career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund, which nominates and endows a select number of gifted artists with generous funding to further their careers. Joyner has also performed for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the latter for which he gave a private performance in the Oval Office. A passionate
advocate for the music of the 21st century, Joyner has collaborated and given performances of works by major composers such as Tyshawn Sorey, Lowell Liebermann, Keith Fitch, Carman Moore, Kaija Saariaho, and Jessie Cox among several others.

A graduate of Juilliard’s prestigious Doctor of Musical Arts program, Joyner also pursued a mathematics concentration in an exchange program with Columbia University, while studying in Juilliard’s Accelerated BM/MM program. Joyner actively collaborates across genres with many choreographers, actors, and jazz musicians—his most recent collaboration includes a featured world premiere with the Atlanta Ballet, for his solo cello work Intransigence.