Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Dr. Zachary Preucil enjoys a variety of activities as a performer, educator, and administrator. Currently, Dr. Preucil serves as principal cellist of the La Crosse Symphony, maintains a private teaching studio in Madison and online at the Virtu Academy program, and serves as a faculty member at the Madison Cello Ensemble program. In addition to his work with the DSO, he is also a member of Quartet 608 and performs regularly with the Quad City Symphony, Madison Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, Sioux City Symphony, and the Wisconsin Philharmonic. Dr. Preucil has appeared on the International Music Foundation’s “Rush Hour” Concert Series, Third Coast Chamber Music Collective, the Mackinac Arts Council Concert Series, Midsummer’s Music Festival, Green Lake Music Festival, the Music Institute of Chicago Faculty/Guest Artist Series, Concerts in the Shed, Bethel Concert Series, Caroga Lake Music Festival, and as a soloist with the Waukegan Symphony and the Schaumburg Youth Symphony at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. He has been praised by the press for his “gorgeous phrasing, attractive color, and lyrical quality” (Hyde Park Herald), and his performances have been broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio, WFMT Chicago, and PBS Wisconsin.
Dr. Preucil has taught collegiately at the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point and Carroll University, and at pre-college programs including the Music Institute of Chicago, the Kanack School of Musical Artistry, Music for Youth of Arlington Heights, and the UW-Madison Community Music School. Additionally, he has given masterclasses at St. Olaf College, University of Minnesota—Duluth, Illinois State University, Bemidji State University, Wheaton College Community School for the Arts, Western Springs School of Talent Education, Community Cello Works of Blacksburg, Virginia, and MIC Winter Workshops. Dr. Preucil has held teaching assistantships at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Wisconsin—Madison, and a teaching fellowship at the International Cello Institute (ICI) in Northfield, Minnesota, where he continues to serve on the Artistic Development Team, teach annually, and direct the iConnect Summer Program for cello students ages nine to fifteen. He has coached chamber music at the Music Institute of Chicago, the Schaumburg Youth Orchestra and Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra programs, and is co-director of the Farley’s Chamber Music Program in Madison.
Dr. Preucil holds a D.M.A. in Cello Performance and a minor in Arts Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was inducted into the school’s chapters of Phi Kappa Phi and the National Society for Leadership and Success. He received his M.M. in Cello Performance and an Arts Leadership Certificate from the Eastman School of Music as a Pi Kappa Lambda inductee, and his B.M. in Cello Performance with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music. His primary teachers have included Uri Vardi, David Ying, Yeesun Kim, and Walter Preucil.
