Biography
Praised for his "musical honesty" by acclaimed Polish cellist, Kazimierz Michalik, Patrick Bellah has made it a personal priority to connect with his audiences on a personal level. Whether performing small, pop-up recitals in Fort Smith Arkansas or solo and chamber performances across Europe, he considers authentic human connection to be the highest goal to which any artist can strive.
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Patrick has appeared as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral cellist nationally and internationally as a performer of early, traditional, and contemporary works. In 2011, he performed as a solo recitalist at the Kołobrzeg International Music Festival in Kołobrzeg, Poland and as a featured chamber musician at the Bay View International Music Festival in Petoskey, Michigan in 2013. In 2015, as part of the Northwest Arkansas String Quartet, he gave the world premiere of Florence Price's long-lost String Quartet in G major, which would later go on to be featured on American Public Media's Performance Today. Following the Covid-19 Pandemic, he embarked on a series of three recital programs that explore the full range of the cello's unaccompanied solo voice. The first installment, 'Rebirth,' was performed in November of 2021 to a sold-out audience in Wiesbaden, Germany. 'Resilience,' the second and current recital program, began in February of 2024 at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Vienna, Austria and continues in April of 2024 in cities across his home state of Arkansas. His next and final chapter in this recital series, 'Remembrance,' is set to begin in late 2025 at select venues within the United Kingdom.
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As an orchestral musician, Patrick has served as Principal Cellist of the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra and section cellist with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, and the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra. Notable artists with whom he has shared these stages include Vadim Gluzman, Cicely Parnas, Imre Palló, Alexander Markov, Amy Porter, Jon Kimura Parker, Jack Gibbons, and Zuill Bailey.
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Dynamic and original compositions are also part of Patrick's musical output. His portfolio includes a cello quintet, completed in 2008; his String Quartet in A minor, completed in 2010; and, most notably, his own arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner for 12 cellos, which was commissioned by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011.
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Patrick also has an active career as a studio recording artist. His most notable work in this category stems from his collaboration with the indie band, Bear Colony, in 2007 on their album, We Came Here to Die, and with metalcore band, Norma Jean, on their 2013 album, Wrongdoers.
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While performance is certainly a driving force in Patrick's professional life, a passion of equal prominence is teaching. As a gifted young performer and pedagogue, he began his own private studio at the age of 17. From 2011 to 2015, he served as Instructor of Cello at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas and would later go on to teach as Instructor of Cello at Eastern Mennonite University and at Eastern Mennonite University's Preparatory Music Academy in Harrisonburg, Virginia from 2019 to 2022. Patrick is an accredited Suzuki teacher and maintains a private studio that boasts a student age range of 7-73 years of age. Coupled with Shinichi Suzuki's philosophy of teaching, he also incorporates techniques from masters in his own pedagogical lineage. He is a product of the studios of Tomasz Zieba, Stephen Gates, Felice Farrell, and Carl Donakowski, making him a second-generation student of Janos Starker, Paul Olefsky, and William Pleeth.
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Patrick holds a Bachelor of Music from Oklahoma City University, a Master of Music from the University of Arkansas, a Performance Certificate from the University of Arkansas, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from James Madison University. He plays a 2015 cello made by the late Wayne Burak and currently resides in Mainz, Germany, where he is active as a soloist and teacher.