Michael Reynolds has been the cellist of the world-renowned Muir String Quartet since its inception in 1979. As a member of the Muir Quartet and as soloist and chamber musician, Reynolds has performed nearly 2,000 concerts throughout North America, Europe and the Far East, and he has performed with such diverse artists as Leon Fleisher, Menachem Pressler, Gil Shaham, Richard Stoltzman, Phyllis Curtin and Benny Goodman. Accolades he has won with the Muir Quartet include first prize at the Evian Competition, the 1981 Naumburg Award, two Grand Prix du Disques, the Gramophone Award, a Grammy nomination and a Grammy on the EcoClassics label he founded, and an internationally acclaimed PBS broadcast, "In Performance at The White House" for President and Mrs. Reagan.
Reynolds has taught at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts since 1983. His students continue to develop successful careers in music, including members of the Boston Symphony and other orchestras, teachers at universities and other institutions nationally, four Boston Symphony Competition and numerous other competition winners. A native of Montana, he received his professional training at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was a student of David Soyer and Martita Casals, continuing with Karen Tuttle and George Neikrug and studies at Yale University. Reynolds has appeared with orchestras and in recital throughout the U.S, and his recording of the complete Bach Suites for Solo Cello on the EcoClassics label has received much critical acclaim. Upcoming recordings include the Muir Quartet performing Berg Op. 3,the Kreisler Quartet and Schulhoff’s 5 Pieces on the EcoClassics label, the Beethoven Clarinet Trio (after the Septet) and Zemlinsky Trio with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman and pianist Judith Stillman on EcoClassics, and the complete Bach Gamba Sonatas with pianist Michele Levin on EcoClassics. Profits from these recordings will support Classics for Kids Foundation’s grant programs.
Reynolds is co-founder and Executive/Artistic Director of Classics for Kids Foundation, which offers matching grants for excellent student instruments to strings programs around America. He founded CFKF in 1998 in response to the decline in support for strings programs nationwide; in addition to his capacity as executive director, he performs numerous fundraising recitals annually for CFKF. To date, CFKF has given grants to over 50 communities to help them acquire beautiful new instruments for their string students. He also is Artistic Director of Rockport Fall Foliage and the Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts in Virginia, and he directs the Muir Quartet’s Emerging Quartets and Composers program at the Deer Valley Festival in Utah every summer. His latest entrepreneurial endeavor is the Montana Chamber Music Society, the first statewide chamber music society in America, now in its third season. Reynolds has also served on the faculties of New England Conservatory, Rutgers University, the University of Utah, and UC Santa Cruz. He received an honorary doctorate from Rhode Island College in 1995. In his spare time he is an avid fly fisherman and outdoorsman. He plays a cello by Giuseppi Grancino, circa 1690.