Biography
Cellist Andy Bryenton has been a member of the core ensemble of the Knoxville Symphony since 1986, and Principal Cellist since 2000. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Hartt School of Music, where he studied with David Wells, Leslie Parnas, and Raya Garbusova. His graduate studies were at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, studying with Walter Despalj and Leopold Teraspulsky. Andy also has been a member of the orchestras of Opera Saratoga in upstate New York and the Des Moines Metro Opera. He has summered with such festivals as Yellow Barn, Music Mountain, Hampden-Sydney, New Hampshire, Orford and Spoleto. Formerly Principal Cellist with the Oak Ridge Symphony, he has a busy teaching schedule as well, with a private studio at home, as adjunct faculty at Carson-Newman University, and as a faculty member of the Music Arts School in Oak Ridge, TN. In addition to his classical output, he is cellist with Kukuly and the Gypsy Fuego, a Knoxville-based gypsy jazz ensemble which is unique worldwide in its instrumentation and scope. He has also been featured on recordings by several local pop and alternative artists.