Cello Phantasia is the second solo album by Dariusz Scoraczewski, Principal Cello of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He is joined on this effort by the peerless Michael Sheppard for an intimate program of cello and piano music. Cello Phantasia showcases two virtuosic musicians making dazzling chamber music together. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Principal cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski has delighted audiences of many concert halls in America and Europe with his great artistic and technical command of the instrument. As a soloist he performed with numerous orchestras in the US including the National Philharmonic, Alexandria Symphony, Arlington Philharmonic, Lancaster Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In 2013 Dariusz was awarded the prestigious Baker Artist Award, the highest recognition for artists in Maryland. As a chamber musician, Dariusz appeared in many chamber music concert series including the Candlelight Series, Music at the Great Hall in Baltimore and the Barge Music Festival in New York City. In November of 2005 he gave his Carnegie Hall debut, which was sponsored by the La Gesse Foundation. The cellist is also a member of a critically acclaimed ensemble – the Monument Piano Trio. Dariusz is a laureate of various international competitions such as the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Leonard Rose Competition in Washington D.C. and the Rostropovich Competition in Paris. Dariusz began his musical education at the age of six and spent his school years in Warsaw, Poland where his teachers were Professor Z. Liebig and Professor A. Zielinski. He completed his higher education as a scholarship recipient at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and perfected his art under the supervision of world-renowned cellist Stephen Kates. The soloist’s repertoire is extremely diverse and includes compositions from early Baroque to the present. His debut CD “Cello Populus” is a collection of solo pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries and includes works of Hindemith, Ligeti, Crumb, Penderecki and others. Known as a pianist of dazzling virtuosity and penetrating musicianship, Michael Sheppard is spreading his wings as a composer, arranger, and transcriber. Trained by Leon Fleisher and Ann Schein at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, Sheppard was selected by the American Pianists Association as a Classical Fellow. The designation led to the recording of his 2007 CD, Harmonia Mundi. In 2012, Azica, a Cleveland-based label, released another recording, which was distributed worldwide by Naxos Records. Sheppard has toured southern Asia and the Middle East, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State. During this tour, he performed with numerous national orchestras, played chamber music with resident ensembles, and played in solo recitals. Additionally, he presented masterclasses and conducted informal presentations in secondary schools and universities. Sheppard debuted at The John F. Kennedy Center and has since performed at Carnegie Hall, with numerous orchestras nationwide, in recitals, masterclasses, broadcasts, and chamber performances. A recipient of fellowships from the Tanglewood Music Center and the LaGesse Foundation, Sheppard also took a major prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs National Competition. As an interpreter of great acclaim, Sheppard spends large amounts of time writing, as well as performing. He has worked closely with composers John Corigliano, Christopher Theofanidis, Michael Hersch, Robert Sirota, and with the late Nicholas Maw. His catalogue of works, numbering in the dozens, was published in the fall of 2012. Michael Sheppard is a native of Philadelphia and resides in Baltimore, where he enjoys performing chamber music as a member of the Monument Piano Trio and the newly-formed group Hammer/Klavier, a two piano, two percussion ensemble. Also passionate about teaching, Sheppard is a teacher at the Baltimore School for the Arts.