Born in Italy, Massimiliano Mainolfi graduated from the “Conservatorio S.Pietro a Majella”. As a young pianist, he was very early brought to public attention as a 1st Prize Winner of several national and international piano competitions. In 1992 he moved to United States where he was admitted to the graduate program of the Julliard School. In New York he studied with the internationally acclaimed Russian pianist Oxana Yablonskaya and worked on the chamber music repertoire with the legendary Austrian violinist Felix Galimir. He graduated from the Juilliard School in 1996 and a few months later he made his New York Recital Debut at the Carnegie Recital Hall as winner of the “Young Concert Artist International Auditions”

After his graduation he moved to London where he has worked for several years with one of the greatest pupil of Arthur Schnabel, Maria Curcio.

From 1996 to 2000 Mr. Mainolfi attended Masterclasses with several great pianist such as Alexander Lonquich at the Florence Academy, Ferenc Rados, Andràs Schiff at the International Musicians Seminars in Cornwall, England and Piernarciso Masi at the prestigious “Accademia Pianistica” in Imola.

As a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician Mr. Mainolfi has performed throughout Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, England, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, South Africa and the United States. He was invited to perform at the Montreux Festival, the Festival “da Bach a Bartok” in Imola, the Festival de Lascours in France, the “Young European Soloists” in Brussels, the IMS in Cornwall and the Davos Festival in Switzerland.

Mr. Mainolfi appeared as soloist, with several orchestras throughout Europe and his recent performances include recitals in the most important venues in Geneva (Salle Ansermet), Bern (Radio Auditorium), Munich (Residenz) , Stuttgart (Wilhelma Theater), Berlin (Philharmonie). He performed in many european cities such as Hamburg, Kiel, Milan, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo, Brussels, Stockholm, Cologne.

Mr. Mainolfi is a devoted chamber musician .In April 2003 he made his Berlin Philharmonie Debut in duo with cellist Mattia Zappa which was broadcast live in several European countries. With his Duo he was prize winner at the “Vittorio Gui International Competition” in Firenze, the “G.B. Viotti International Competition” in Vercelli and the “Trio di Trieste International Competition”.

He records for the label Ducale, Lyra Classica, Claves Records and for Deutschland Radio, DRS, Rai 3, Radio Espace 2. He is regularly invited to join the jury of national and international music competitions.

He is Director of the International Academy of Music and the Summit Music Festival.

He is currently Professor at the Trento Conservatory – University of Music in Italy and at the Hochschule für Musik in Nürnberg , Germany.

Lawrence Dutton, violist of the Emerson String Quartet, winner of nine Grammy Awards, has collaborated with many of the world’s great performing artists, including Isaac Stern, Mstislav Rostropovich, Oscar Shumsky, Leon Fleisher, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir James Galway, Sir Andre Previn, Walter Trampler, Menahem Pressler, Rudolf Firkusny, Lynn Harrell, Yefim Bronfman, Joseph Kalichstein, Misha Dichter, Jan DeGaetani, Edgar Meyer, Joshua Bell, Emanuel Ax and Elmar Oliveira, among others. He has also performed as guest artist with numerous chamber music ensembles such as the Juilliard and Guarneri Quartets, the Beaux Arts Trio and the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. Since 2001, Mr. Dutton has been the Artistic Advisor of the Hoch Chamber Music Series at Concordia College in Bronxville, NY. He has been featured on three albums with the Grammy winning jazz bassist John Patitucci and with the Beaux Arts Trio he recorded the Shostakovich Piano Quintet, Op. 57, and the Fauré G minor Piano Quartet, Op. 45, on the Philips label. His Aspen Music Festival recording with Jan DeGaetani for Bridge records was nominated for a Grammy award. For BRAVO television he recorded works by Stravinsky and Hindemith. Mr. Dutton has appeared as soloist with many American and European orchestras including those of Germany, Belgium, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Colorado, and Virginia, among others. He has also appeared as guest artist at the music festivals of Aspen, Santa Fe, Ravinia, La Jolla and Chamber Music Northwest, and has collaborated with the late Isaac Stern in the International Chamber Music Encounters both at Carnegie Hall and in Jerusalem. From 2008-2010 he performed at the Great Mountains Music Festival in Korea. Currently Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at Stony Brook University, the Manhattan School of Music, and Mercer University in Georgia, Mr. Dutton began studies on violin with Margaret Pardee at Juilliard Pre-College and then continued on viola with Francis Tursi at the Eastman School of Music. He earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees at the Juilliard School, where he studied viola with Lillian Fuchs and has received Honorary Doctorates from Middlebury College in Vermont, The College of Wooster in Ohio, Bard College in New York and The Hartt School of Music in Connecticut. As a member of the Emerson String Quartet, he was a winner of the 2004 Avery Fisher Prize and was inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2010. Mr. Dutton exclusively uses Thomastik Spirocore strings and performs on a viola made by Samuel Zygmuntowicz (Brooklyn, 2003).

He resides in Bronxville, NY with his wife violinist Elizabeth Lim-Dutton and their three sons Luke, Jesse and Samuel.

“in the front ranks of his generation’s musicians” – Janos Starker

“above all else, Elisha’s playing is the voice of candor. It is honest and enthusiastic. He courageously takes chances, decidedly unwilling to hide behind conventional musical gestures” – The New Haven Register

“a flexibly nuanced, burnished tone… Lightning-swift left hand and deft bow arm” – New York Concert Review

Internationally acclaimed cellist, Steven Elisha, has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Norway, China, Taiwan, Brazil, Israel and the United States. He first attracted attention at the age of fifteen when he gave solo performances with the Albany and Schenectady (New York) Symphonies. Elisha’s New York debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and premiere performance of Cry of the Dove (a cello concerto written by his sister, Adrienne Elisha) received critical acclaim.

As an honorary member and returned guest of the Beijing Cello Society, he has extensively toured mainland China, performing recitals and teaching master classes at the Shanghai, Canton, Xian, Jinan and Beijing conservatories. Featured solo appearances have included the Beijing Central Philharmonic and Symphonies of Beijing, Xian, Jinan, and Canton, Toledo Symphony, Connecticut Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Topeka Symphony, Gulf Coast Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony and Highland Park Strings. Formerly, Director of String Studies at Washburn University, Principal Cellist of the Topeka Symphony, and Conductor of the Topeka Symphony Youth Orchestra, Elisha was also the Artistic Director/ Conductor of the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra. Dr. Elisha regularly gives master classes, workshops and residencies throughout the United States, including his fun-loving and innovative “Mr. Cello Stories” program for audiences of all ages.

Elisha frequently presents workshops, teaches and performs at national and international festivals, conferences and summer music programs, including the Summit Music Festival, Sunflower Music Festival, Washington Square Music Festival, Charleston International Music School, Omaha Conservatory Summer Institute, College Music Society and American String Teachers National Conference. Dr. Elisha is the Regional Representative of the American String Teachers Association Georgia Chapter. Elisha is co-founder and cellist of the Elaris Duo, with violinist Larisa Elisha. As a recording artist, he is heard on a Grammy-nominated Musical Heritage Society recording of New England piano trios, Yale Cellos of Aldo Parisot on Delos and Duo Virtuoso on MSR-Classics.

Just released at MSR-Classics, DUO VIRTUOSO II – Works for Violin and Cello by Honegger, Ravel and Schulhoff, has received high praise in reviews appearing in Fanfare Magazine, Gramophone American Record Guide and other leading music publications. Elisha was featured in Fanfare Magazine, and winner of the Global Music Awards for DUO VIRTUOSO and DUO VIRTUOSO II. Currently, Dr. Elisha is Professor of Music, Strings Area Head and Director of Orchestras at Georgia Southern University Fred and Dinah Gretsch School of Music.

Noted for the “fiery intensity” and “poetic vision” of his playing, Cyrus Forough’s reviews comprise a lexicon of superlatives in more than a dozen languages. Critic Donald Isler lauded his performance of Beethoven Sonata No. 7 in August 2016 as “a very fine performance of a great work,” saying he “played with great flair and stylistic understanding.” Of his July 2015 performance of Debussy’s Violin Sonata, Jim Lowe wrote, “With a warm sound and deft technique, Forough was an expert musician, utilizing skilled articulations and a broad palette of tonal colors, in delivering Debussy’s unique mix of Romanticism and Impressionism.”

A laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Competition, Mr. Forough also won first prize in the Milwaukee Symphony Violin Competition and was a finalist in the Munich International Violin Competition. He and his wife Steinway Artist Carolyn McCracken, as the Forough/McCracken Duo, won the United States Artistic Ambassador Program’s National Violin/Piano Duo Competition. He also holds the World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media Award in recognition of his contributions to classical music and education.

Mr. Forough’s unique succession of studies, in three major international cultural centers with three of the twentieth century’s legendary violin masters—Arthur Grumiaux, David Oistrakh and Josef Gingold—has made him a prominent representative of the Franco-Belgian school of violin playing.

When he was five years old, he began his violin studies with his mother, who herself was a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, Belgium. First in Liège she had studied under the tutelage of Ernest Chaumont and Leopold Charlier, both distinguished professors of the Franco-Belgian violin school, and subsequently with André Gertler at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where she graduated with a First Prize in violin and history of music.

Within the first few years Mr. Forough performed publicly in concerts and on Iranian television. At the age of seven he performed a recital at the Ministry of Arts and Culture recital hall in Tehran, where he played three concertos with piano, namely Vivaldi A minor, Viotti Concerto No. 23 in G major, and Rode Concerto No. 8. At age eight his parents took him to Europe in order for him to further his violin studies with well-known European pedagogues of the time. In Vienna he auditioned for distinguished violinist and pedagogue Ricardo Odnoposoff; in Paris for internationally recognized professor Gabriel Bouillon at the Paris Conservatory and Michelle Auclair; in Salzburg, Austria for André Gertler; and in Brussels for the internationally renowned violinist and professor Arthur Grumiaux, all of whom agreed to take him as their student.

As a result, Cyrus Forough became the youngest student ever to attend the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, admitted at the exceptional age of nine to study with the legendary Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux for the first year of his studies. He graduated at age sixteen with a First Prize and High Distinction Medal in violin and at age seventeen with a First Prize with Distinction in chamber music. He then at the age of eighteen became one of only thirteen students chosen by national competition to attend Europe’s most renowned school for promising young performers, the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, for the 1968–71 session. During this time he also obtained his Superior Prize with High Distinction in violin from the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music.

Subsequently, after hearing Mr. Forough perform, the legendary violinist David Oistrakh invited him to pursue post-graduate studies with him at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, which he attended from January 1973 to January 1976. Upon Mr. Oistrakh’s untimely death in October 1974, he completed his studies with David Oistrakh’s assistant Mr. Oleh Krysa, who today is a Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music. Mr. Forough then attended Indiana University School of Music for two and a half years, where he studied with and was the personal assistant to Professor Josef Gingold, himself a student of the great Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe.

Cyrus Forough has performed in recital, with orchestras, and in chamber music ensembles throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including live broadcasts on radio and television. He has performed and taught at festivals in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Rumania, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. His solo concerts for international dignitaries have included command performances for Queen Fabiola and then-Princess Paola of Belgium, the Shah and Queen Farah Pahlavi of Iran, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, President Hassanali of Trinidad and Tobago, and President Kreiske of Austria. He also gave a special performance in Bangkok for the birthday celebration of Queen Sirikit of Thailand.

Mr. Forough has worked with conductors such as Rudolf Barshai, Sidney Harth, Alan Heatherington, Daniel Hege, Zdenek Kosler, Farhad Mechkat, Paul Polivnick, Alexander Rahbari, Vladimir Sirenko, Adrian Sunshine, Loris Tjeknavorian, André Vandernoot, and Ronald Zollman, amongst others.

He has performed at numerous summer festivals such as the Weimar Festival in Germany, the Plovdiv Music Festival in Bulgaria, the International Schubert Festival at Indiana University, and the American Sacred Music Festival in Milwaukee, invited there by composer and conductor Lukas Foss.

Mr. Forough has championed contemporary music throughout his career. He gave the Tehran Symphony Orchestra’s premiere of the Shostakovich First Violin Concerto in 1975 with conductor Adrian Sunshine. In 1985, he gave the Milwaukee Symphony’s premiere of that same concerto under the baton of Paul Polivnick. Among other performances of contemporary works, in 2010 he performed Witold Lutosławski’s Chain 2, Dialogue for Violin & Orchestra with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic under Ronald Zollman. Mr. Forough has also performed the works of composers including Erberk Eryılmaz, Alan Fletcher, Lukas Foss, Ramin Heydarbeygi, Otto Luening, Alireza Mashayekhi, Behzad Ranjbaran, Amir Mahyar Tafreshitour, and Reza Vali, including Vali’s Khojasteh “Majestic”, a duo for violin and cello. This work was dedicated to Cyrus Forough, who gave the premier at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. in January 2013. He is also the dedicatee of Alan Fletcher’s Woman Holding a Balance, which he premiered in 2011 at the National Gallery.

In September 2016, Mr. Forough recorded Alireza Mashayekhi’s fourth violin concerto with the Ukraine National Symphony, Vladimir Sirenko conducting. Mashayekhi’s fourth and fifth violin concertos and his fourth Violin and Piano Sonata are dedicated to Cyrus Forough. He will give the world premiere of the sonata along with other Mashayekhi compositions dedicated to him, including the transcriptions for violin of Sonata Electronica and Tonalian, in a November 2017 recital at the ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, NY.

The Forough/McCracken Duo performed William Kraft’s Double Play with orchestra, and premiered the Violin and Piano Sonata of Shostakovich and Central Park Reel by Lukas Foss in numerous cities in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America.

Called “musical treasures of absolute mastery,” the Forough/McCracken Duo has charmed and captivated audiences with the artistry of their unique duo partnership. They have performed in many concert venues, including the Kennedy Center, the Phillips Collection, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and others.

As Artistic Ambassadors of the United States, they concertized in many countries, performing in recitals and with orchestras, giving master classes and interviews, participating in symposiums and discussions at universities and conservatories, and giving benefit recitals for anti-drug education/rehab and Down syndrome research foundations, all for the purpose of fostering goodwill and cultural understanding between people and nations.

Mr. Forough’s dedication to teaching and his skill at communicating his art have earned him a reputation as a sought-after and highly effective violin pedagogue. Having studied on three continents with some of the greatest violin virtuosos of the twentieth century, he is one of the living links to the great Franco-Belgian school of violin playing and pedagogy.

At present he is a full-time tenured Professor of Violin at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music in Pittsburgh. Mr. Forough has previously taught at several other universities and was an Artist Faculty member of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy for the Gifted. He was also a visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music in 2009, 2010, and 2015.

Mr. Forough’s former students are members of professional orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Danish Opera Orchestra (concertmaster) in Copenhagen, Denmark; National Symphony of Argentina in Buenos Aires (concertmaster); Dallas Symphony Orchestra (associate concertmaster); Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Cleveland Orchestra; Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Buffalo Philharmonic; Naples Philharmonic (Florida); Calgary Symphony Orchestra; Hong Kong Sinfonietta; and many others. Former students are members of chamber ensembles such as the JACK Quartet and the Palladian Ensemble, amongst others.

Mr. Forough’s college and pre-college students have also received first prizes, awards, and other prizes in many international and national competitions. Among these are Finalist and “Public Prize” at the Sibelius International Violin Competition, the Paganini Award at the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, Prizewinner at the Menuhin International Violin Competition, “Best Talent” at the Sarasate International Violin Competition, Wieniawski International Violin Competition (3rd round), and prizewinner at the Henryk Szeryng International Competition in Mexico. His students have won numerous first and other prizes at competitions in the United States such as the Washington International Competition for Strings, the Johansen International, the Klein International String Competition, the Stulberg International String Competition, the Cooper International Violin Competition, the Lynn National Competition, and the Illinois Bell Young People’s Concerto Competition, performing live on television with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Forough’s students have also taken first prizes at the Fischoff, Rembrandt, and countless other violin and chamber music competitions.

Numerous pre-college students have been chosen to perform on “From the Top” including at Carnegie Hall, New York, and throughout the nation broadcast on radio and television. His students have included winners of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and a Presidential Scholar.

In the summer of 2017, Mr. Forough will return as a faculty member at the Summit Music Festival in Pleasantville, New York, to perform and teach. He has also been on the faculty at numerous other summer music festivals. U.S. destinations have included the Beverly Hills International Music Festival (California), Bowdoin International Music Festival (Brunswick, Maine), Indiana University String Academy (Bloomington, Indiana), Killington Music Festival (Rutland, Vermont), Madeline Island (Wisconsin), Meadowmount Summer School of Music (New York), and the Northwestern University Summer Violin Institute (Evanston, Illinois). Internationally, he has been on the faculty at the Cambridge International String Academy (Cambridge, Great Britain), Chateau de Champ Music Festival (Paris, France), International Music Festival Montpellier (France), Niagara International Chamber Music Festival (Canada), Pilsen International Music Academy (Czech Republic), Schlern International Music Festival (Italy), and Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival (Germany).

Mr. Forough has been an adjudicator for competitions including the Stulberg International Competition and the Sorantin International String Competition, and has conducted master classes at the aforementioned summer festivals as well as at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Northwestern University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Beijing Central Conservatory, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Guangzhou Xinghai Conservatory of Music, Peabody Institute Preparatory, Mount Royal College-Academy “Program for Gifted Youth” in residence in Calgary, Canada, the Glenn Gould School of the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music, and many others. In March 2016 he gave a master class and violin recital as part of the A.I. Lack Master Class series at the University of Houston’s Moore School of Music.

Mr. Forough performs on the 1718 ” Wilmotte” Antonius Stradivarius.

Dr. Mikhail Galaganov has premiered more than thirty compositions for viola alone, viola with piano, and viola in chamber music, written for him by composers from Israel, Russia, Mexico, Peru, Belgium, Italy, Uruguay, and the USA. As Principal Viola of the Dallas Chamber Symphony, he has also premiered many pieces written for a small symphony orchestra and for string chamber ensembles.

Galaganov is the founder of numerous chamber music programs. He is coordinates New Music Ensemble program at TCU and is the founder of the “NME at the Modern Arts Museum” concert series.

Teaching activities have taken Galaganov to major conservatories around the world, and he has taught and performed in numerous European and American Festivals. His former viola and violin students can be found as principal players in orchestras, university teachers, soloists and chamber music performers.

In addition to teaching and performing, Galaganov has written articles for major string publications, including Strad, has served as a reviewer for American String Teachers Association magazine, and has given lectures and presentations at professional conferences. He is working on several research projects and has made transcriptions and arrangements. His recent album, Charm, Passion, and Acrobatics was received with enthusiastic critical acclaim and was streamed more than 300,000 times in the first six months since its release.

Galaganov is Professor of Viola and Chair of Strings at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, TX. He has a violin performance degree from Russia; BM in Viola Performance from Israel; and Artist Certificate, MM, and DMA degrees from the USA. He plays on an old French viola by Mansuy a Paris with gut strings by Damian Dlugolecki.

Photo by Jack Settle

Award-winning Venezuelan violinist Simón Gollo is one of the most versatile and charismatic Latin American artists of his generation working in the United States today. His diverse career demands him to serve the roles of artist director, conductor, soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. Founder and Music Director of the Aruba Symphony Festival and Academy (formerly Nuevo Mundo Festival of Venezuela), Simón Gollo is committed to promoting first class artists from Latin America, as well as providing talented Latin American students the opportunity to work with performers and teachers from around the globe.

Simón Gollo has appeared as a conductor and soloist across the United States, Europe, Central and South America at prestigious venues such as the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society (Philadelphia, USA), 92Y- Kaufmann Concert Hall (NY, USA), Chamber Music Society of Detroit, National Gallery of Art (Washington DC, USA), Bolivar Hall (London, UK), Teatro Teresa Carreño (Caracas, Venezuela), Auditorio Blas Galindo (Mexico City, Mexico), and the Teatro Mayor (Bogota, Colombia). He has performed with international figures such as Alessio Bax, Ricardo Morales, Dmitri Berlinsky, Richard Young (Vermeer Quartet), Miguel Dasilva (Ysaye Quartet), Randolph Kelly, John Novacek, Mihai Marica, Yura Lee, and Jacob Koranyi, among many others.

In addition to his collaborations as soloist and conductor, chamber music has been a major focus throughout his career. From 2012 to 2015, Mr. Gollo was a member of the Dali String Quartet and is regularly invited by the St. Luke’s Orchestra (NY) and several chamber music ensembles such as Camerata Nordica (Sweden), Classical Jam, International Chamber Soloists, Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio for tours and concerts given at esteemed venues such as the Carnegie hall in NYC, and Cadogan Hall (London, UK – BBC Proms Festival). Most recently Simón Gollo has been a member of the La Catrina string quartet for which he was nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, “String Quartet No. 3 (In memoriam Ludwig Van Beethoven)” by composer and producer Yalil Guerram from the quartet’s latest album, “Alma con Brio.”

Simón Gollo is a gifted and committed pedagogue who keeps a very busy teaching schedule including invitations to teach master classes around the world. After earning degrees from the Conservatoire de Musique de Geneve, Switzerland, and the Conservatoire Superieur et Academie de Musique Tibor Varga in Sion, Switzerland he was a violin professor for the prestigious “El Sistema” and Mozarteum in Caracas, Venezuela. His violin teachers include Gyula Stuller, Anne Bauer, Patrick Genet, and Gabor Takaçs.

Currently, Simón Gollo is Assistant Professor of Violin in the Department of Music at New Mexico State University (NMSU) and Conductor of the NMSU Philharmonic. Since 2016 Simon Gollo has a prominent career as a conductor emphasizing his artistic commitment to social projects of a musical nature in El Salvador, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and the USA. Simón Gollo is a recording artist for IBS Classical.

Herbert Greenberg, a native of Philadelphia, studied with Jascha Brodsky and Ivan Galamian. Further studies at Indiana University with the great pedagogue Josef Gingold led to a Performer’s Certificate. Mr. Greenberg has been a member of the Minnesota Orchestra, associate concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony and from 1981 to 2001 served as concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and has performed over 50 concerti from the Baroque to present day American composers such as Adams and Rouse. Mr. Greenberg has collaborated as a soloist with many of the world’s leading conductors including William Steinberg, Andre Previn, Leonard Slatkin, Sergiu Comissiona, Gunther Herbig, Hans Vonk, Pinchas Zukerman, Nicholas McGegan, and David Zinman. He has performed as soloist in Carnegie Hall to critical acclaim. Many of his performances have been broadcast on NPR, and he was featured in Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben on National television celebrating the inaugural concert at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore.

Mr. Greenberg has concertized throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He has toured as soloist with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra of Denmark and has led the New Arts Ensemble of Taipai as violinist/conductor on a tour throughout Taiwan. Mr. Greenberg was the first American invited to serve as the concertmaster for the Japan Virtuoso Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble consisting of concertmasters and first chair players from all over Japan as well as the Berlin, Vienna, Munich, and Tel Aviv Philharmonic Orchestras. Recently, Mr. Greenberg has performed in Budapest, the Czech Republic. and served as violinist/conductor of the Singapore Symphony. He has also served on international juries for the most recent Szymanowski and Wieniaski Competitions. Mr. Greenberg has been invited to serve as guest concertmaster for the Houston, St. Louis, San Diego, and Oregon Symphonies, as well as the National Arts Orchestra of Canada and the Bergen Philharmonic of Norway.

In Minneapolis he was a member of the Minnesota Chamber Soloists. In Pittsburgh he was a founding member of the Previn-Greenberg-Williams Trio and in Baltimore, a founding member of the Baltimore String Quartet. He has collaborated in chamber music with a wide variety of artists such as Primrose, Gingold, Laredo, Zukerman, Frager, Kaiichstein, and Ma. Mr.Greenberg has participated in many festivals and seminars such as New York String Seminar, NOI, Sarasota, and Blossom Festivals. For the past 15 seasons he has been a member of the faculty and concertmaster of the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Mr. Greenberg has been a member of the violin faculty at the Peabody Conservatory since 1987. He is also very active in leading Master Classes, most recently at LSU, CCM, YST, and Juilliard. Many of his former students occupy concertmaster and principal positions in major symphony orchestras throughout the world. Mr. Greenberg’s students are members of Orchestras such as Baltimore, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, National, Kennedy Center Opera, Houston, St. Louis, Montreal, KBS, Danish Radio, and Israel Philharmonic. Mr. Greenberg has recorded for Sony, Telarc, Argo, and Delos. He plays on the Jean Becker Stradivarius, dated 1685.

Emanuel Gruber is celebrated as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and teacher.

He has brought his “authority, sensitivity to musical values, wide dynamic range, and great mastery of his instrument” (Music Journal, New York) to collaborations with artists such as Neville Marriner, Rudolf Barshai, Shelomo Mintz, Pinkas Zukerman, Miriam Fried, Philippe Entremont, Jean Bernard Pommier, Tamas Vasary, and Janos Starker.

“One of our great artists” the Jerusalem Post wrote, citing “his extraordinary capacity for projecting the deepest meaning of the music.”

Awarded the Pablo Casals Prize by the Philharmonic Orchestra, he also won the Concert Artists’ Guild Auditions early in his career.

He has been principal cellist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra and co-principal of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He was a member of Sequoia Quartet, Camerata Trio, Tel Aviv Piano Quartet, and leader of the Israel Cello Ensemble.

Emanuel Gruber has performed in many major festivals including Salzburg ( Austria), Bath (England), San Sebastian (Spain), Northwestern (Portland), Eilat (Israel), Musike (France), Musical Spring (St. Petersburg) and Rostropovich Cello Festival (Riga). He was jury member for the Davidoff International Cello Competition in Latvia and for the Salou Music Competition in Spain. Mr. Gruber has been visiting professor at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington and has taught at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem.

Currently he teaches cello and chamber music at East Carolina University. During summer he teaches and performs at Summit Music Festival in New York and Zodiac Music Festival in France.

Click here to access Emanuel Gruber’s YouTube video channel.