Cellist Bernard Greenhouse dies at 95

WELLFLEET, Mass. -- Bernard Greenhouse, acclaimed cellist and founding member of the renowned Beaux Arts Trio, has died at his home on Cape Cod. He was 95.

The cellist's son-in-law, Nicholas Delbanco, said Greenhouse died Friday morning in his sleep.

Greenhouse was born in Newark, N.J., and began playing cello at age 8. As a teenager, he was admitted to what was then known as the Juilliard Graduate School in New York City.

He began his career as a soloist in the mid-20th century, but it was a time when concert presenters rarely booked solo cellists, according to The New York Times. In 1955, he founded the Beaux Arts with violinist Daniel Guilet and pianist Menahem Pressler. The trio performed around the world, including regular appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Beaux Arts showed uncommon staying power. The first personnel change came when Guilet left in 1969. There were no other changes until Greenhouse retired from the Beaux Arts in 1987.

While with the trio, Greenhouse taught at several schools, including the Juilliard School of Music and Rutgers University.

Greenhouse hosted many students at his house in Wellfleet, where he moved in the 1950s. He required no payment of his guests, except help with cooking and sailing, his other two loves, the Cape Cod Times reported.

Greenhouse's wife, the former Aurora de la Luz Fernandez y Menendez, died in 2006. He is survived by two daughters.

-- AP