The distinguished career of Texas-born cellist Ralph Kirshbaum-which encompasses the worlds of solo performance, chamber music, recording and pedagogy-clearly places him in "...the highest echelon of today's cellists." (Los Angeles Times). He enjoys the affection and respect not only of audiences worldwide but also of his many eminent colleagues and students.
Ralph Kirshbaum has appeared with many of the world's great orchestras, including the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the San Francisco, Pittsburgh, BBC and London Symphonies, the Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonia, Zurich Tonhalle, Orchestre de Paris and Israel Philharmonic, along with major orchestras in Holland, Germany, Spain, Scandinavia and the Far East. His repertoire ranges from Haydn and Dvo?ák to Prokofiev and Lutoslawski, in which he has collaborated with such esteemed conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph von Dohnányi, Andrew Davis, Sir Colin Davis, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Andre Previn, Sir Simon Rattle and the late Sir Georg Solti. A regular visitor to Australia, his most recent tour included concerts with the Adelaide and Sydney Symphony Orchestras as well as recitals and master classes.
Other recent engagements have included performances of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1 with the Colorado Symphony-of which The Denver Post wrote: "with finesse and forcefulness, Kirshbaum owned the thorny work"; Bloch's Schelomo and Dvo?ák's Silent Woods with the Madison Symphony Orchestra-which The Madison Capital Times acclaimed as a performance of high drama from "a musical colorist and masterful artist notable for his expressiveness"; Schumann's Concerto with the Aberdeen Sinfonietta; and a return to Belgrade-where he performed and taught classes in the summer of 2009-for the Brahms Double Concerto with violinist Hagai Shaham and the Belgrade Philharmonic. Recitals with pianist Peter Jablonski have brought the duo to New York, Ravinia and La Jolla as well as London's Wigmore Hall and Harrogate's Wesley Chapel in the United Kingdom. In the summer of 2010, Ralph Kirshbaum returned to the Santa Fe and Music@Menlo Festivals in the U.S., and made his debut with the China National Symphony Orchestra in Beijing, performing the Dvo?ák Concerto. The upcoming season includes appearances in California, New York, Texas, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Ralph Kirshbaum appears regularly at such prominent international festivals as Edinburgh, Bath, Verbier, Lucerne, Aspen, La Jolla, Santa Fe, Music@Menlo, Ravinia and New York's Mostly Mozart. He maintains an active chamber music schedule with long-time colleagues and friends. Having enjoyed a thirty-year collaboration with pianist Peter Frankl and violinist Gyorgy Pauk, he tours regularly with violinist Robert McDuffie and violist Lawrence Dutton, and has performed frequently with Pinchas Zukerman and Peter Jablonski. Other recent collaborations have included Lang Lang and Joshua Bell, Leif Ove Andsnes, Vadim Repin, Joseph Swensen, Wu Han and Yefim Bronfman. Recently he performed with the Emerson String Quartet at Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and in Zurich, Munich and Milan.
Mr. Kirshbaum founded the RNCM Manchester International Cello Festival in 1988, and was its Artistic Director through its grand finale in 2007. Through nine festivals, this unique event gathered together his many friends amongst the world's great cellists, along with thousands of students and enthusiasts from around the world, in a celebration of the cello, its music and musicians. The festival was the subject of a recent DVD documentary awaiting European release. In 2007, Mr. Kirshbaum was honoured with the Music Award for Concert Series and Festivals at the Gala of the Royal Philharmonic Society, England's most prestigious award for live classical music. He currently serves as honorary president of the London Cello Society.
In addition to his solo career, Ralph Kirshbaum is an esteemed pedagogue who has influenced generations of young cellists as a committed and impassioned mentor. He has been on the faculty of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England for 35 years, and in 2008 accepted the Gregor Piatigorsky Endowed Chair in Violoncello at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. While concluding his class in Manchester in 2010, Mr. Kirshbaum will retain his position as the RNCM's International Chair of Cello. He continues his annual association with the International Musician's Seminar in Prussia Cove and the London Master Classes, as well as an active schedule of master class commitments throughout the world.
Bach forms an important part of Ralph Kirshbaum's musical activities; he has performed the complete cycle of Bach cello suites in London's Wigmore Hall, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in Sydney, Edinburgh, Lyon and San Francisco. He has also made a critically acclaimed recording of the solo Bach Suites for EMI/Virgin Classics.
Kirshbaum's many recordings have included the 1983 Gramophone Magazine "Record of the Year" world premiere recording of Tippett's Triple Concerto for Philips, the Elgar and Walton Concertos for Chandos, the Ravel, Shostakovich and Brahms Trios for EMI and the Barber Concerto and Sonata for EMI/Virgin Classics. Also noteworthy is his recording of the Brahms Double and Beethoven Triple Concertos for BMG Classics with Pinchas Zukerman, John Browning and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. Of his recording of William Walton's Concerto, the composer wrote: "It is most heartening to hear a performance in which everything is just right - it is excellent and moving." His most recent release is his November 2006 recording of the Shostakovich and Prokofiev Sonatas with pianist Peter Jablonski.
Resident in London and Los Angeles, Ralph Kirshbaum remains a U.S. citizen with a great love of American football, tennis and Texan food. He served on the US President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities from 2003 through 2008. He has written about music and musicians for a number of journals and periodicals, most recently appreciations of Jacqueline du Pre for The Guardian in London, and of his beloved teacher Aldo Parisot for The New York Times. The rare Montagnana Cello that Ralph Kirshbaum plays once belonged to the 19th century virtuoso, Piatti.
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