Biography

Meredith Steele is a North American cellist currently based in Melbourne, Australia. She has performed as both a soloist and chamber musician across Europe, the United States, Asia, and Australia. An avid chamber musician, Meredith has performed alongside Miriam Fried, Cathy Cho, and Natasha Brofsky. Awarded multiple prizes in the United States and Australia, she was the recipient of the Otti Veit Violoncello Scholarship for excellence at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in 2024. 

Meredith received her Bachelor of Music degree from East Carolina University with Professor Emanuel Gruber. She then completed a Master of Music performance degree as an Eckstein Merit Scholar at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois under the guidance of Professor Hans Jensen.

Her continued passion for learning and performing led to a pursuit of a Ph.D. in Music Performance at the University of Melbourne, supported by the Research Training Scholarship under the supervision of Dr. Ken Murray, Dr. Richard Narroway and Dr. John Gabriel. Over the last three years, she has had the opportunity to conduct research with the Rosenthal Archives of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Newberry Library, and Northwestern University’s Deering Library staff. Meredith’s doctoral research consists of a critical examination of Richard Strauss’ tone poem Don Quixote, Op. 35. Her work largely focuses on its historical performance practices of the early 20th century, as well as a practice guide to the cello obligato score aimed for orchestral cello auditions.