Brent Arnold

Cellist and composer Brent Arnold creates music that moves fluidly between composition and improvisation, and between acoustic and electronic sound worlds. The New York Times has praised his “mastery across string instruments.” Working in contemporary classical, rock, opera, and interdisciplinary performance, his music is marked by a balance of experimentalism and emotional directness.

His musical approach was shaped through studies with cellist Walter Gray of the Kronos Quartet and legendary spiritual jazz violinist Michael White, known for his work with Pharoah Sanders, John Handy, Alice Coltrane, and Sun Ra.

Arnold’s latest album More Light, produced by Randall Dunn, will be released in 2026. It interweaves chamber music compositions with dark electronic textures, featuring Gelsey Bell, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Eyvind Kang, Josh Modney, Jessica Pavone, Alaina Ferris, and Mark Dover.

In 2024, Arnold collaborated with Grey Filastine, Walid Ben Selim, Ricard Soler, and Ali Abdi Omar to create the opera Ali, which premiered at La Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium.

His latest project is the Night Heron Quintet, an ensemble bringing together distinctive voices from contemporary classical, jazz, and non-Western traditions in richly structured compositions with improvisational freedom. The quintet is Arun Ramamurthy (violin), Zosha Warpeha (Hardanger d’amore), Brent Arnold (cello), John Murchison (bass), and Alaina Ferris (harp).

He is also a founding member of Ghost Quartet with Dave Malloy, Gelsey Bell, and Brittain Ashford, and has worked with artists including Zola Jesus, Jessika Kenney, Ashwini Ramaswamy, Drew McDowall, Steve Von Till, SQÜRL (Jim Jarmusch & Carter Logan), Wayne Horvitz, Reggie Watts, Lia Ouyang Rusli, DJ /rupture, The Antlers, and many more.