Cellist, songwriter and producer Noah Hoffeld came from a classical background, but playing classical was never everything to him. Before graduating Juilliard, he began bringing alternative music, improvised and written, to the cello.
Noah played on the Grammy-Winning Best Jazz Album Finding Gabriel by Brad Mehldau, and brought the strings together for the recording. He’s played live solos for the likes of Natalie Merchant and Renee Fleming, recorded for films like A Walk in the Woods with Robert Redford, and tracked remotely for television like the 2023 Bafta-Winning Best Score of Mood on BBC, and Show Me a Hero on HBO. This year, he’s a featured soloist on the Billboard #1 Classical Crossover Album Piano Piano 2, by Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers.
Beginning in 2004, Noah started an adventure with teacher and culture shaper Ram Dass. As a student of RD, Noah learned about loving awareness, the essence of what we all are, and how it can change our lives for the better. Noah now teaches meditation, incorporating the insights he received in his time with RD. That time has also shaped his music.
He plays regularly for Grammy-nominated artist Krishna Das, the “rock star of the yoga world.” He’s toured with Tibetan nun and singer Ani Choying Drolma and others in sacred music, and produced Anubhav, the second album by chant artist Nina Rao. He records and arranges. produces and mixes for composers and songwriters, sacred and secular, around the world.
When playing the cello couldn’t convey words of care for people and the planet, an undeniable calling propelled him to write songs. His album Mobile Home, coproduced with Mark Plati (Bowie, The Cure, Prince, etc) is out everywhere. In the single Born For America, he contrasts his faith in the nation’s promise with today’s ongoing division and inequality. The song hit the Americana radio charts, received international airplay, and was added by thousands of listeners to their own playlists and libraries.
Essentially Pop UK writes, “His vocals strong and rich, with a hint of Tom Petty, John Lennon, or even Bob Dylan. His lyrics certainly evoke the latter.” Indie Band Guru calls him “A one-man wrecking crew on the microphone….If “Born For America” is a sampling of what Hoffeld is planning on shelling out, we’re about to hear some of the best indie pop/rock to come from a piano-clad vocalist in a long time.”
Watch the “Born For America” video
In 2021, Bodhiheart: Love Rules, Meditations for Cello and Piano with pianist-collaborator Wells Hanley was released, featuring Mark Egan (Pat Metheny, Sting, etc) on fretless bass and Arjun Bruggeman (Krishna Das, John Densmore, etc) on tablas. Reviews New Age Spain writes, “Bodhiheart improvises one of the best albums of year’s end.” Love Rules was featured on Echoes Radio, syndicated across 120 stations nationwide, and continues in rotation on SXM. Listen here.
Noah plays a classical english cello, tours with ease with a ricci soloist carbon instrument, and plays a 5 string electric with pedals of all sorts.
He takes to heart Gandhi's saying, 'Be the change you wish to see in the World” and sees music as a vehicle for that change. As well as enjoying meditation and the outdoors, he’s a big fan of staring at the sky.
videos and music in the menu above
All photos by Gretchen Robinette, except Noah at the piano (above) by Piotr Redlinski.