Faculty Bios

Originally from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, cellist Joe Cracolici is an enthusiastic performer and educator excited to be joining the Pakachoag community. Joe holds BA degrees in Music and Accounting from the College of the Holy Cross, where he was the John E. Brooks Music Scholar for his class, and earned his Master’s degree from the Longy School of Music.

As an orchestral musician, Joe has made festival appearances at the National Orchestral Institute and Festival, the Eastern Music Festival, and the Trentino Music Festival in Mezzano, Italy, performing as principal under conductors including Gerard Schwarz, José-Luis Novo, and J. David Jackson. In local orchestral settings, he performs regularly with the New England Repertory Orchestra, the Du Bois Orchestra, the Apollo Ensemble of Boston, and the Boston Civic Symphony. Internationally, he has appeared on multiple occasions with Orquesta Iberacademy in Medellín, Colombia, under conductors Alejandro Posada and Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas.

As an orchestral soloist, Joe has performed the Haydn Cello Concerti with the Stockbridge Sinfonia and the Holy Cross Orchestra. As an individual performer, he had the honor of opening the Dedication Concert of the Prior Performing Arts Center at Holy Cross with selections from the Bach Cello Suites.

A strong believer in and passionate advocate for chamber music, Joe has collaborated with many musicians to present both traditional masterworks and exciting premiere performances of contemporary works. While at Longy, Joe served as the cellist of Trio Idoneus and the Trevi Quartet, regularly presenting chamber music classics by Fauré, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Debussy alongside historically underperformed or new compositions by composers such as Fanny Hensel, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. Outside of these ensembles, Joe has collaborated in chamber performances with celebrated artists including violinists Katherine Winterstein and Michelle Ross, violist Sergio Muñoz-Leiva, pianist Adam Golka, and cellist Jan Müller-Szeraws. In his chamber music studies, Joe has had the privilege of working with members of the Cassatt String Quartet and the Horszowski Trio, and as an individual cellist, he has performed in masterclasses for cellists Zlatomir Fung, Julian Schwarz, Elizabeth Anderson, Nicholas Finch, and Gwen Krosnick.

As an educator, Joe has worked in both public school and music school settings, having previously taught at the Boston String Academy, in the Somerville Public Schools, and in Longy’s Sistema Side-by-Side program. Outside of teaching at Pakachoag, Joe serves as Program Manager of the Worcester Chamber Music Society’s strings program, Neighborhood Strings, teaches privately at the Concord Conservatory of Music, and serves as the Lower Strings Orchestra Coach at Clark University.