Gary Fitzgerald is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied cello with Leonard Rose, Channing Robbins, and Lynn Harrell. Chamber music coaches included members of the Juilliard String Quartet, William Lincer and Lillian Fuchs. He was Assistant Principal Cello for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Principal Cello for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Perth. As a freelance musician in New York City, he was a member of various orchestras and chamber music groups including the American Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the American Composers’ Orchestra. He also played in the Broadway productions of West Side Story, Nine, Dream Girls, Merrily We Roll Along, and Cats.
An accomplished keyboard player, Mr. Fitzgerald was part of the student accompanying staff while in college. While in New York, he earned the Associates’ Certificate from the American Guild of Organists. Since 1985 Mr. Fitzgerald has been a full time church musician, serving various churches in Fairfax, VA; Washington, D.C.; Pawley’s Island, SC; and currently in Powhatan, VA. In this capacity, in his work as Music Director Emeritus of the West Point Alumni Glee Club, and in his work as a faculty member at the Cellospeak Workshops, he has long experience as a performer, accompanist, arranger, composer and conductor.