An Austin Critics Table nominee for best instrumental performance of 2013, cellist Terry Muir has performed as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral member, jazzer and rocker for twenty-five years. As a soloist, Muir has appeared with orchestras in the concertos of Schumann, Dvorak, Haydn, Saint-Saens and Victor Herbert. In 2004, he performed in three of the “Top Ten Shows of the Year”, as voted by the Austin Chronicle, and again reached the top ten list in performances in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007 and 2012. In collaboration with jazz great Tina Marsh, he performed dozens of concerts and recorded two CDs. Inside the Breaking was given four stars by Jazz Weekly and proclaimed by Jazz Times to be “Less an album than a multi-discipline art installation, requiring more introspection than inspection.”
Muir is well known to Austin audiences for his many appearances in warehouses, airplane hangers, in partially completed buildings and other unique locations with acclaimed choreographer Sally Jacques. As a chamber musician, Muir co-founded the Hengst Studio Concerts in Seattle with visual artist Jeff Hengst, the Idaho Chamber Music Fortnight in Boise with the Langroise Trio, and the Charleston Eclipse Ensemble. Other chamber highlights include performing piano trios with the Stars of the San Francisco Ballet, live radio broadcasts from the Schubert Festival at Town Hall Seattle, and recitals at the Valyermo Monastery in Los Angeles. As an orchestral musician, Muir has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Tampa Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Charleston Symphony, Boise Philharmonic, Austin Symphony and recorded many independent and Hollywood movies. On the road he has performed and toured with Elton John, Tears for Fears, Sarah McLaughlin, Billy Joel, Pavarotti, and Sheryl Crow, among many others. Muir is a committed teacher who has taught beginners, professionals, students preparing to enter music conservatories and students of all ages, including those well into their 80s.