Close this window Mary Lou Rylands Cello Mary Lou Rylands, Professor Emeritus of Cello Performance and Chamber Music at the University of Connecticut, recently retired to East Craftsbury, Vermont where, as Director of the Craftsbury Chamber Players Summer Youth Program, she continues to teach young string players. While at the University of Connecticut, she founded and for eleven years directed the UConn Cello Society. In addition to teaching, Ms. Rylands performed regularly in solo recitals, concerto performances with regional orchestras, and continued an active chamber music schedule, with the UConn Chamber Players and the Coast Guard Chamber Players. As a champion of new music, she has premiered works by numerous composers including Gwyneth Walker, Robert Dix, Walter Ihrke, Eric Neilsen and Elizabeth Scheidel Austin. She can be heard on CDs produced by North Star Records and the University of Connecticut. She received her training at Oberlin Conservatory and the Yale School of Music. Her teachers include Aldo Parisot, Peter Howard, Pierre Fournier and Andre Navarra.