Kirk Starkey performs regularly throughout Canada and the United States as a member of award-winning crossover ensemble Quartetto Gelato. Kirk’s solo recordings Little Gidding (2011), Songs of Sudbury (2016) showcase his original style of integrating extended cello techniques and digital processing into a compelling and accessible medium.

No stranger to collaborations outside of classical music, recent projects include session work for Bülow, Mickey Guyton, Great Lake Swimmers, Glorious Sons, Wild Rivers, Emma-Lee, and Lou Rhodes (Lamb). A featured solo performer/composer at the International Cello Festival of Canada (Winnipeg 2011), Kirk was featured in a live solo performance broadcast on CBC’s The Signal.

In the role of Producer, Kirk Starkey specializes in the capture and production of acoustic music. His recent clients include in the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, The Toronto Consort, Quartetto Gelato, Valerie Tryon, Suzanne Shulman, Bud Roach, Capella Intima, Paul Marleyn, and Shoshana Telner. A frequent contributor to television programs, Kirk can be heard on Anne with an e (CBC/Netflix), X Company (CBC), Flashpoint (CTV), Hannibal (NBC) and Orphan Black (BBC America). His collaboration with Tonmeister/composers Daniel Dettwiler and Ramon de Marco (Basel, Switzerland) is in permanent installation in the BMW Museum in Munich, Germany. Kirk Starkey’s cello has been featured in numerous international advertising campaigns, including Mercedes-Benz, Kaldewei, Royal Bank of Canada, Edeka, and TD Canada Trust.

Kirk performs and records on a newly restored Bohemian cello (c.1775) on generous loan from Hildegard Battista.

“I am utterly amazed by his service, the quality of his work on a tight budget, the beautiful recording and his total refusal to be phased by anything I threw at him. He was able to turn on a dime, redirecting different parts of the arrangements according to our whims .. I have just received a beautifully constructed Pro Tools session with everything lined up, labeled, sounding GREAT, awesome tuning, emotional and sincere playing and with multiple playlists of alternative takes and edits underneath the master!” Emre Ramazanoglu (Mercury Prize nominated Producer, London UK)

For more info on Kirk, please visit his website kirkstarkey.com