Jacob Hanegan

After first participating in the 2020 virtual season, cellist Jacob Hanegan is excited to join the musicians of the Sun Valley Music Festival for his second in-person season this summer. Praised for his “robust tone and sensitivity”, and “soulfulness and breathless lyricism”(Chicago Classical Review), Jacob Hanegan serves as the principal cellist of the Illinois Philharmonic. Jacob joined the IPO in 2019, performing live on WFMT for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial concert series with the IPO quartet in 2021, and making his concerto debut with the orchestra in 2022. Hanegan also serves as principal of the Chicago Opera Theater, guest principal of the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, and enjoys regular performances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.

A 2018 alum of The New World Symphony, Hanegan spent his time there working with leading cellists and conductors from around the world under Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. As a lover of opera, he has performed with Seattle Opera and the Des Moines Metro Opera, along with serving as principal of the Aspen Opera Center Orchestra, the Shepherd School Opera Orchestra, and the Eastman Opera Orchestra. He has performed chamber music collaborations with members of the Cleveland Quartet and Emerson Quartet, along with many contemporary music performances in Milwaukee, Chicago, Miami, Houston, and New York. Hanegan is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Steven Doane (BM), and Rice University Shepherd School of Music where he studied with Desmond Hoebig (MM).

Jacob lives in Wisconsin, and was recently married to much-acclaimed harpist Julia Coronelli, principal harpist of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and primary guest principal of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra