Emmanuel Feldman
Cellist, Educator & Inventor
Hailed by John Williams as “an outstanding cellist and truly dedicated artist,” Emmanuel Feldman has commissioned over 60 works by composers such as Harbison, Schuller and Kernis. Described by Gramophone as “an artist who combines communicative urgency with tonal splendor,” Feldman’s recent release Our American Roots (Delos) includes the rarely heard George Walker sonata.
Feldman has performed in the U.S. and internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and composer. An enthusiastic collaborator, he has partnered in a wide range of creative projects with Bobby McFerrin, the Mark Morris Dance Group, and Verona String Quartet. Awarded grants from the Argosy and Thomson Foundations, Feldman released two world premiere recordings, one of which earned a Grammy nomination for producer Blanton Alspaugh.
Feldman’s recital credits include performances at Carnegie Hall, Salle Gaveau Paris, and Franz Liszt Academy in Hungary. As a concerto soloist, Mr. Feldman has performed with the Boston Pops, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Greensboro Festival Orchestra, and Boston Philharmonic. He has also performed with Gilbert Kalish, Elmar Oliveira and Paul Neubauer, in chamber music with the Jupiter and Borromeo String Quartets and as an orchestral player with the Boston Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestras.
Feldman’s own compositions have been heard at venues including the Granoff Music Center, Jordan Hall, and Brown University. His “Enigma #1” written for Duo Cello e Basso was performed on the Boston Celebrity Series to critical acclaim by the Boston Globe. His recent arrangements include works by Debussy for cello and orchestra and Gershwin’s Three Preludes and short pieces from “Porgy and Bess” for cello and piano that can be heard on the Delos label.
With over a dozen CD’s to his credit, his critically acclaimed recordings and performances have featured music by American composers including Steve Mackey, Richard Danielpour and David Diamond. His “Rider on The Plains” CD featuring Virgil Thomson’s Cello Concerto was described as “sounding exhilarating in this bracing and confident performance” (N.Y. Times).
A sought after educator and clinician, Feldman’s cello students have gone on to be accepted to most major music schools and conservatories in the U.S. and abroad and have won competitions including the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition and prizes at the Brahms International Competitions, Irving Kline, and Stulberg Competitions.
A skilled luthier, he is the inventor of the innovative TekPin™ cello endpin. Currently, he is a faculty member at Tufts University. He also teaches at the International Cello Institute, VCU Global Summer Institute of Music, and Heifetz International Music Institute.
Born in New York City to a large musical family, Feldman first studied the violin, piano, and French horn and then chose the cello at age 12, later studying at the Curtis Institute of Music. His teachers include Orlando Cole, David Finckel, Bernard Greenhouse, Amy Camus, and Jonathan Miller.