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● Multi-Award Winning Cellist & Educator ● Orchestra Personnel Manager ● Artist Representative● Music Editor & Publisher
● City Public Arts & Culture Commissioner
● Regional CU Symphony In School Music Education Program Coordinator/ Producer/Performer/Fundraiser
Orchestral and Broadway veteran, recipient of shared Emmy, Tony, Grammy, Gran Prix du Disque, and multiple awards, Barbara Hedlund enjoys an active career for over 5 decades to date as an orchestral, chamber musician, recording artist, orchestra and college music festival administrator, music editor and publisher, orchestra founder/Executive Director/librarian, university professor, adjudicator, associate producer for Public Radio Television, concert, opera, and theatre producer, City of Urbana Public Arts Commissioner, young artist scholarship sponsor and mentor. With decades of performance, arts management, and music educator experience, her legacy demonstrates commitments to live music, arts education, innovative program building, collaboration, customer service, arts management, and advocacy.
Her professional history includes successful achievements in performance, teaching, arts administration, creation of orchestral, operatic, and chamber ensembles, fund raising, community and public relations, marketing, venues, programming, human resources, board of director service, concert performance and administrative experience in symphonic, choirs, churches, opera, theatre, and recital production, promotion & coordination for weddings, memorial services, university campus events, in schools music education programs, community service and philanthropic support. More information is below and available at www.barbarahedlund.com.
Having taught for Wilkes College, the University of Illinois, Illinois State University, Parkland College, the Illinois Council of Orchestras Strings at Allerton Symposiums, and Eureka College Summer Strings Festivals, Barbara Hedlund teaches privately and coaches youth orchestra celli, plus coordinates, develops, and performed over 20 annual Champaign Urbana Symphony In-School performances throughout the region. Her music publication company, VCello Music publishes music for solo cello, cello ensembles, and arias with voice, cello obbligato solos, and keyboard.
Barbara Hedlund performed in recital and for orchestras, opera & ballet companies, film and television in the South and Northeastern USA including the NY Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Broadway shows, Radio City Music Hall, the Westbury Music Fair, including US and European tours. She currently performs as Principal Cello for the Champaign Urbana Symphony, Danville Symphony, Heartland Festival Orchestra, Sugar Creek Opera, and regional single engagements booked through her agency 1st Choice Music Services. Recent appearances include performances in Los Angeles and Irvine, CA, Vienna, VA, Champaign, Peoria, Urbana, Washington and Savoy, IL, recorded the soundtrack for an independent film “The Blacksmith”, premiered works by contemporary composers Richard Faith, Stacy Garrop, Elaine Fine, Michael Alexander, and Carlos Carrillo, performed as solo cellist in the musical "John & Jen" at the Parkland College Black Box Theater, "The Last Five Years" at the Celebration Station Theatre, for "Beauty and the Beast" with the Danville Symphony, the CUTC Benefit "All Together Now" at the Virginia Theatre, two benefit recitals for the CUSO In School programs, four promotional videos for the CU Symphony, Heartland Festival Orchestra, Community United Church of Christ, produced a children's music and reading video called "The Voice of the Wood" on YouTube for her Read it Again Mommy Series, and numerous recitals in Urbana, in Savoy & Peoria, IL.
Who's Who Listings and Nominations include: Marquis Directories [Lifetime Achievement, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the Midwest, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who In American Universities], the International Who's Who in Music and Musicians Directory, Who's Who in the World], the National Register [Who's Who in Executives and Professionals edition], America's Registry of Outstanding Professionals, plus Cambridge Directory for Who's Who Among Executive & Professional Women.
Multiple Awards:
● Musical America 2022 Top 30 Professionals of the Year - The Pandemic: Meeting the Moment Nominee
● League of American Orchestras Ford Musician Award Nominee 2016 & 2018
● Board of Governors (National Association of Nonprofit Organizations Executives) 2016 & 2017 Nominee
● Associate Producer, Music Producer, & Solo Cellist for a 2003 PBS/WILL- TV Performance Documentary The Song and Slogan which won an Emmy Award for Best Music plus other Emmy nominations for Best Performing Arts/Entertainment, Best Director, & Best Videographer
● Shared Grammy Award, Tony Award, and France's Grand Prix du Disque Award as musician for the RCA Victor Porgy and Bess Album, John de Main,
Music Director, Houston Grand Opera Broadway Production
● Roger Ebert Film Festival 2007 Thumbs Up Producer Award as producer & performer for Sadie Thompson
● Woman of Distinction Award - Girl Scout Council of Central Illinois 2011
● Illinois House of Representatives Senate Recognition Award 2011
● Illinois Council of Orchestras Chamber Orchestra of the Year Award - January 2000 for (BACH) Baroque Artists of CHampaign Urbana as Co-founder,
Executive Director, Personnel/Operations manager, Development Officer, Chief Benefactor, & Cello Continuo soloist
● IL Council of Orchestras Meritorious Service Award recipient (1998-99)
● IL Governor’s Arts Award as Individual Artist and Special Recognition Nominee November 1999
● Lifetime Achievement Ace Award 2005 nominee/finalist for the inaugural 40 North ACE Award celebrating the accumulated successes of an individual for continued, outstanding support of the arts and extraordinary contributions to the cultural life of Champaign County
● Crystal Award of Excellence from the International Communicator Awards Committee for Broadcasting Excellence - a shared award for a live Second Sunday Concert on WILL- FM radio -Jan. 2003, & featured in a Second Sunday Concert TV Advertisement
● Champaign Urbana Symphony fund raiser recognition 1994, 2008, 2017, 18, 19, 20
● NW Symphony Paul Vermel Annual Young Artist Award - creator/donor
● National Honor Society
Orchestral Training: She trained in the finest orchestral traditions with Principal & Associate Principal Cellists of the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, & London Symphony.
Prior to moving to Illinois, she performed with:
● Symphonies: New York Philharmonic (regular substitute for 3 seasons), New Jersey Symphony (Principal Cellist 5 years), Westfield Symphony and Quartet (Founding Principal Cellist & Quartet Member - 2 years), Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic (10 years Principal Cellist), Music of Westchester Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Delaware Symphony, Reading Symphony, and numerous regional orchestras in the Northeast, Florida, Georgia, and Alabama
● Broadway shows: (Full runs - The Wiz, Porgy and Bess (1976), Fiddler on the Roof (1981) 1st Call Substitute: Shenandoah, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof (1976), Pacific Overtures, Annie, Beatlemania, Oklahoma, Peter Pan, Cats (1981 -3), Porgy & Bess 1983 at Radio City Music Hall, Hello Dolly, On Your Toes
● Off Broadway Productions: Carousel, Music Man, A Little Night Music, Sound of Music, Annie, West Side Story, Secret Garden, Game of Love, Love Games,
The Minister's Wife, Kinky Boots, John & Jen, Beauty & the Beast, The Last Five Years, Next to Normal All Together Now, premiered Sumidagawa at The O'Neill Theater Center Composer/Librettist Conference, the 2023 World Premiere Musical “A Goblin’s Christmas Story” - Story by Charles Dickens, adapted by Kenny Chumbley in November 2023 to three Sold Out Houses at the Historical Orpheum Theater, Champaign, IL USA as Cellist, Vendor, & Co-Sponsor
● International & Domestic Tours: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber - American Tour with Michael Crawford and large cast, Phantom of the Opera - American tour/solo cello, & Dame Shirley Bassey Orchestra [at Carnegie Hall, NJ State Arts Center, & South African tour for over a decade
● Ballet companies: Moiseyev, Martha Graham, Milwaukee, Chicago, London Ballet, Cirque Eloise de Montreal, New Jersey Ballet, as solo cellist with Senta Driver's Dance Company "Harry" in NY City, and in Illinois with the Chicago Festival Ballet, Butler, CU, & Peoria Ballet Companies
● Pop Artist Orchestras (at Carnegie Hall, Westbury Music Fair, Winter Garden Theater, Lincoln Center, Madison Square Gardens, & more) throughout America, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, South Africa, Canada, and Antigua
● Touring artists she performed with to date: Stephanie Mills, Dame Shirley Bassey, Christine Andreas, Ian Richardson, George Rose, John Cullum, Michael Crawford, The Spinners, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Anne Murray, Mel Torme, Johnny Mathis (for A & E TV), Ben Vereen, Cleo Lane, Charles Aznavour, Bruce Forsythe, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Rodney Dangerfield, Michel Le Grand, George Shearing, Barbara Cooke, Marian McPartland, Michael Burgess, Mannheim Steamroller, Ten Tenors, Flash Cadillac, Kinky Boots Tour, Moody Blues, Mannheim Steamroller (repeat engagements), B. J. Thomas, Buddy Wachter, Lisa Vroman, Barbara Padilla, Time for 3, Doc Severinsen, Broadway Performers, American Idol Finalists, Steve Lippia, Moiseyev Ballet, Chicago Lyric Opera, Anne Murray, and others
● Illinois Engagements: She performs for or performed as Principal Cello for the Illinois Symphony and Chamber Orchestra (8 seasons), plus travel coordinator, Sinfonia da Camera (founding cellist for seasons 1-3 & recorded works by Milhaud, Françaix, & Saint-Saëns), Baroque Artists of CU (1996 - 99, 2021, 2022 as founder, sponsor, Executive Director, violoncello continuo soloist), The Chorale with the late Julie Beyler (2006 -19) Orchestra personnel manager & Solo Cello, Opera Illinois Orchestra (& Orchestra personnel manager) for 17 seasons/45 productions (1988-2005), Principal Cello & Chamber Music Coordinator for the Klassisches Musik Festival in Vienna & Eisenstadt, Austria (5 seasons), NPR /WILL Radio Second Sunday Monthly Concert Series from the Krannert Art Museum - founding artistic advisor & performer, plus live broadcasts, and fund raisers on WILL Radio and TV (1988 - 2015), Mills Breast Cancer Institute Weekly Music Series (5 seasons) as producer/ cellist/ and fundraiser (2007-12), Prairie Ensemble Chamber Orchestra - founding cellist in 1996, then Principal Cellist & Personnel/ Operations Manager (Fall 2007-July 2014 when TPE performed their final concert), and as an approved UIUC Campus Music Vendor for over 60 departments.
Major Illinois Performance Venues: Virginia Theater, Peoria Civic Center, Peoria Masonic Scottish Rite Temple ("Scotty'), Five Points Washington Performing Arts Center, Assembly Hall/State Farm Center, Historic Fischer Theater, David Palmer Arena, Dick Van Dyke Auditorium, Five Points Washington Performing Arts Center, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Springfield Performing Arts Center, Doudna Fine Arts Center, and more.
Principal Cello: Presently Barbara Hedlund performs as Principal Cello for: The Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra (1984-); Danville Symphony (1994-present); Heartland Festival Orchestra & Peoria Ballet Orchestra (2009 -present); Sugar Creek Opera (2004 - 2018), Baroque Artists (1996-99, 2021, 2022). Single engagements include multiple annual UI Campus events, & choral concerts in Central Illinois coordinated by her artist representative agency 1st Choice Music Services since 1984; EIU Camerata Sinfonietta (2019 inaugural member & advisor), and Eastern Symphony Orchestra.
Opera Affiliations: A passionate supporter of opera, singers, & publisher of The Virtuoso Obbligato Aria Collection for voice, cello, and piano, she performed operas with the: Philadelphia Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago downstate tour (Principal Cellist), Lake George Opera (Principal Cellist) and orchestra librarian, Friends of French Opera at Carnegie Hall, Opera Illinois (Principal Cellist and orchestra personnel manager 1988-2005), Illinois Opera Theater (Principal Cellist, contractor/advisor), Opera Theater of St. Louis "Beauty & the Beast" Premiere (Solo cellist costumed and on stage), Teatro Gratacielo at Lincoln Center, Sugar Creek Opera (Principal Cellist), Orchestra Librarian, & Personnel Consultant, UI Lyric Theater Solo Cellist
● Recorded for film, TV, & radio in NY, CA, NJ, & IL - Recordings include: Paramount Pictures Star Trek IV soundtrack, as an on screen extra for the film With Honors. the Houston Grand Opera recording of Gershwin's Porgy & Bess for RCA which won Grammy and Tony Awards on Broadway and France's Grand Prix du Disque, albums for Sony EMI Limited, Sesame Street, Book of the Month Club, Arabesque Records, Sculpture Scope Videos, Amasong, Reign Records, Ocean's Edge Music, a Big Ten Network soundtrack, Love Games (new musical), independent labels, and videos for the Heartland Festival Orchestra, Champaign Urbana Symphony, Read Across America, and multiple area churches
Film & Documentary credits: Associate Producer, Musical Supervisor, and on-camera cellist for the PBS/WILL-TV 2003 Emmy Winning Performance Documentary The Song & the Slogan (with five time Grammy winner/Metropolitan Opera Tenor Jerry Hadley and actor David Hartman), Associate Producer for two PBS/WILL-TV Documentaries The Music of World War II & Ten Sisters, the sound track for Paramount Studio’s Star Trek IV, cellist for New York PBS TV specials with Mercer Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, & actor Robert Alda, A & E Television's Live by Request with Johnny Mathis, a PBS television Documentary with Flash Cadillac, and producer/cellist for the 2007 Roger Ebert Forgotten Film Festival performance of the sound track to Miss Sadie Thompson with the Champaign Urbana Symphony, and Producer of "The Voice of the Wood" Children's Video for Read Across America, plus "Ferdinand the Bull", and the Illinois Premiere of "Meet Mr. Twink: A Musical Fairy Tale". for CUSO In School Concert Programs.
As an educator: Barbara Hedlund has taught for Wilkes College, Illinois Wesleyan University, University of Illinois School of Music, UI Summer Youth Music Program & OLLI Program, Illinois State University, Parkland College, Eureka College Strings Festivals, Conservatory of Central Illinois, Illinois Council of Orchestras String Symposiums, Eureka College Summer Music Camps, plus Unit 4 & District 116 schools. Her current teaching affiliations are: Cellobration Studio in person and online, plus coaching several youth orchestra cello sections, and CelloFest 2019 & 2022.
A simultaneous Fine Arts Administrator, she serves as a founding and current Chair for the Urbana Public Arts & Culture Commission, founding director & CEO of 1st Choice Music Services, founder/ publisher/editor/arranger for VCello Music Publications (works for solo cello, cello ensemble, and arias with cello obbligato), and founding personnel manager for the Heartland Festival Orchestra from 2009-present). She has served as board member, music librarian, and serves as personnel and library consultant to Central Illinois orchestras, and as a special events producer.
Orchestral Music Librarian positions held include the NJ Symphony, Lake George Opera, Klassisches Musik Festival in Austria, CU Symphony, Peoria Civic Opera, Opera Illinois, Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana, Sugar Creek Opera, and Heartland Festival Orchestra, plus advisor to several Central Illinois orchestras.
Community Service: Barbara Hedlund has served an active volunteer for the Co-op Nursery School, PTA, as a Crossing Mother for 2.5 years, Public Radio & TV, the Urbana Nursing Home, and Co-founder of the City of Urbana Public Arts & Culture Commission since 2007.
Philanthropic Sponsorship: Arcadia Chamber Players, Baroque Artists of CU, NW Symphony, Rollins College, UI College of Fine & Applied Arts/Library/School of Music, WILL- TV & FM Radio, Parkland College Theatre Department, CU Symphony, Danville Symphony, Sugar Creek Opera, Heartland Festival Orchestra, food banks, police, libraries, churches, medical and numerous community charities.
Family: Married in 1974 to noted Bass-baritone Ronald Hedlund, their son Alexander, a former affiliate with numerous major Hollywood film companies, is presently Executive Producer for the Eat the Cat television and film production company in Hollywood, CA which broadcasts films on the Hulu, NetFlix, SyFy, and Peacock channels. Her stepson, aeronautical engineer Dr. Eric Hedlund is the Chief of Testing & Evaluation for the US Navy's Ballistic Missile Defense Program.
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