Northwest Bach Festival’s Zuill Bailey now a Grammy winner

Zuill Bailey is now a Grammy winner.

The cellist, who serves as artistic director of the Northwest Bach Festival in Spokane, won a Grammy Sunday afternoon for best solo instrumental performance, for his work on “Tales of Hemingway.” The piece, by composer Michael Daugherty, also took home the trophies for best classical compendium and contemporary classical composition.

Bailey was the featured soloist for the world premiere of “Hemingway,” performed by the Nashville Symphony and conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero. A recording of the premiere was released on the Naxos label in September 2016.

In addition to his Spokane gig, Bailey serves as artistic director of music festivals in Sitka, Alaska, and El Paso, Texas, where he is on the music faculty of the University of Texas El Paso.

These mark the first Grammy nominations for Bailey, whose eclectic résumé also includes appearances on the television series “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “Oz.” He performs on a 1693 cello made by the famed Venetian, Matteo Goffriller.

Bailey has been artistic director of the Spokane festival since 2014. He is an accomplished international soloist who has recorded works by J.S. Bach, Antonin Dvorak, Edward Elgar and Johannes Brahms.

He performed Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto and P.I. Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with the Spokane Symphony in 2013, and made a lasting impression with Spokane audiences in 2012 with his performance of the cello suites of J.S. Bach in St. John’s Cathedral, a feat he repeated the following year.

Bailey will perform “Tales of Hemingway” in Spokane as part of this year’s Bach festival, which kicks off on Feb. 21. “An Evening With Hemingway” will be on March 2 at the intimate Barrister Winery, 1213 W. Railroad Ave. For tickets or additional Bach festival information, visit http://www.nwbachfest.com/calendar.