Trevor Fitzpatrick

Cello

What convinced you that you wanted a career in music?

My parents are both symphony musicians. I grew up enjoying the happiness that music brought to their lives and knew it was what I wanted to do. That plus I wear glasses and I play the cello. A career in music was the only way out of being a total geek!

What are you listening to right now?

A little bit of everything. Chamber music in the morning (Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn), Ella and Louis while cooking, Bossa Nova for entertaining, and cheesy polkas and waltzes when nobody’s around.

How did you choose your instrument?

I didn’t. My older brother started violin a few years before me. It was only natural to my parents that the next child should play the cello. During some of my teenage years I disagreed with their decision (I was also a little preoccupied skateboarding and dying my hair orange), but the cello geek inside me eventually became too strong to suppress!

What is on your nightstand?

My laptop. I try to keep up with the news online, and I really enjoy the crossword puzzles. OK, OK, I Facebook, too. Also, two alarm clocks. I need more than one for the morning rehearsals…

What guest artist would you most like to perform with?

Leonard Rose. He’s the cellist I’ve most looked up to all my life. His recordings and performance videos are some of the greatest ever made. If only I’d been born 30 years earlier.

Besides your instrument, what is your most treasured possession?

My wife. She’s not really a possession, just my biggest gift—and my metronome.