Ralph Kirshbaum

Ralph Henry Kirshbaum (born March 4, 1946 in Denton , Texas ) is an American cellist and music teacher.

The son of the violinist and conductor Joseph Kirshbaum and the harpist Gertrude Morris Kirshbaum received his first cello lessons from his father when he was six. He was later a student of Roberta Guastafeste and Lev Aronson and studied at Yale University with Aldo Parisot . In 1969 he won the First International Casadó Competition in Florence, and in 1970 the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In 1970 he made his debut at Wigmore Hall in London, made his orchestral debut in 1972 with the New Philharmonia Orchestra of London , and in 1976 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Since then he has performed with well-known orchestras in North America, Europe, Australia, South Africa and Asia and under conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt , Semyon Bychkov , Christoph von Dohnányi , Sir Colin Davis , Andrew Davis , James Levine , Zubin Mehta , Kurt Masur , André Previn , Sir Simon Rattle and Sir Georg Solti . He tours regularly through Holland, Germany, Spain and Scandinavia, is a guest at the music festivals of Edinburgh, Bath, Verbier, Lucerne, Ravinia, Aspen, La Jolla and Santa Fe and is the founder and musical director of the Manchester International Cello Festival .

As a chamber musician, Kirshbaum a. a. with Peter Frankl , Shai Wosner , Peter Jablonski , Garrick Ohlsson , Boris Berman , Benjamin Hochman , György Pauk , Itzhak Perlman , Gil Shaham , the Juilliard String Quartet and the Tokyo String Quartet and performed in a trio with Robert McDuffie and Lawrence Dutton , in more recently with Pinchas Zukerman , Midori Gotō , Joshua Bell , Vadim Repin , Lang Lang , Leif Ove Andsnes , Yefim Bronfman and the Emerson String Quartet .

He also taught at the Royal Northern Collegof Music in Manchester for thirty-five years . In 2008 he received the Gregor Piatigorsky Endowed Chair in violoncello at the USC Thornton School of Music and was its fourth holder after Lynn Harrell , Ronald Leonard and Eleonore Schoenfeld . He received the Music Award for Concert Series and Festivals at the 2008 Royal Society of Music Gala . Kirshbaum plays a cello by Domenico Montagnana from 1729, which u. a. owned by Alfredo Piatti in the 19th century .

Web links

• Ralph Kirshbaum USC Thornton School of Music
• Ralph Kirshbaum Kirshbaum Associates Inc.
• Ralph Kirshbaum bach-cantatas.com (as of 2013)