Called “astounding,” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) and “a rising star,” (Bay Area Reporter) cellist Justin Dougherty performs upwards of 50 concerts per year as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and abroad.
Mr. Dougherty is a serious advocate of the music of our time and the expansion of the cello repertory. He has made premieres of nearly 40 new works by composers such as David Rakowski, Gunther Schuller, and Steven Stucky, and has commissioned two dozen unaccompanied and chamber music works by composers including Emily Cooley, Dominick DiOrio, Bruce Trinkley, and Boston’s Fifth Floor Collective. Mr. Dougherty celebrated the Benjamin Britten centenary with more than 20 performances of the composer’s three Suites for Cello, and in 2015 began a recital series featuring rarely-performed works written or arranged for solo cello, from the Renaissance to the modern day. Always seeking to perform music by composers who are under-represented in classical music, he has given more than 200 performances of his ongoing new-music recital project Queering the Pitch, including performances in New York's Carnegie Hall, as well as performances of works by composers from BIPOC and AAPI communities.
Mr. Dougherty has collaborated with cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Guy Fishman, pianist Judith Gordon, and violinists William Pu and Stanley Ritchie, among others. He frequently performs with Chamber Cartel, a Georgia-based ensemble committed to new, contemporary music. In 2009, Mr. Dougherty joined with his long-time friend, soprano Meredith Mecum, to form the Counterpointe Duo expressly to develop and perform the repertory for their soprano-cello combination.
Mr. Dougherty is a sought-after teacher and maintains a large private studio of young cellists in the Atlanta, GA area. His students have been named principal cello in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, Emory Youth Symphony, and Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestra. Eight students have been selected to the prestigious Georgia Governor’s Honors Program. Fourteen students have won prizes at the Georgia Music Teachers Association competitions, while more than 40 of his students have been accepted to the Georgia All State Orchestras since 2015. He has sent students to study at schools of music such as Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University, Columbus State University, and the University of Michigan. Mr. Dougherty has presented lectures and masterclasses and been in residence at numerous colleges and universities, including the University of South Florida and his alma mater, Penn State University.
Justin Dougherty holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Pennsylvania State University, a Master of Music degree from The Boston Conservatory, and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Georgia. While at The Boston Conservatory Mr. Dougherty was the assistant to his mentor, the renowned cellist Rhonda Rider. His other primary teachers include Kim Cook, Judith Eissenberg, and Robert Nairn.
Mr. Dougherty is a lapsed vegetarian who lives and spends his practice time in suburban Atlanta. If it isn’t too hot, you can find him running along one of Atlanta's many rail-trails, dodging tennis balls at the dog park with his Australian Shepherd, Sir Otis, or out enjoying all the great wine and food that the south has to offer.
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