Norman Fischer (cellist)

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Norman Fischer (born May 25, 1949 ) is an American cellist and music teacher.

Life

Fischer studied with Richard Kapuscinski , Claus Adam and Bernard Greenhouse and then became a member of the Concord String Quartet . With this he gave more than 1000 concerts, recorded over 40 works, won the Naumburg Chamber Music Award , two nominations for a Grammy and an Emmy Award . In 1971 he formed the Fischer Duo with pianist Jeanne Kierman , which, in addition to works by Beethoven , Brahms and Schumann, also performed and recorded works by contemporary composers, including the complete works for cello and piano by William Bolcom and works by George Rochberg , Augusta Read Thomas , and Robert Sirota , Pierre Jalbert and Richard Wilson . For more than 30 years he has also appeared as the Concord Trio with Jeanne Kierman and violinist Andrew Jennings .

Fischer made his debut as a solo cellist in New York in 1983 with Bach's six cello suites. His recordings of Bolcom's compositions for cello solo were used as incidental music for the performance of Arthur Miller Broken Glass on Broadway . At Tanglewood Music Center he played Henri Dutilleux's Trois Strophes sur le nom Sacher in 1995 and the world premiere of Bolcom's Suite in C minor the following year. He has performed in concerts with orchestra under the direction of conductors such as Lukas Foss , Robert Spano , Larry Rachleff and Efrain Guigui and has played Robert Sirota's Cello Concerto (1985), Augusta Read Thomas ' Vigil , Steven Stucky's Voyages and Ross Lee Finney's Narrative , among others .

Fischer has taught at Dartmouth College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music . From 1985 he was a member of the Summer Faculty of Tanglewood Music Center , where he holds the Charles E. Culpepper Foundation Master Teacher Chair . Since 1992 he has been the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Cello and Director of the Chamber Music Department at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston. He is also on the Board of Directors of Chamber Music America .

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