The cello ( CHEL-oh), or violoncello ( VY-ə-lən-CHEL-oh, Italian pronunciation:[vjolonˈtʃɛllo]), is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 and A3. The viola's four strings are each an octave higher. Music for the cello is generally written in the bass clef, with tenor clef, and treble clef used for higher-range passages.
Isaac Stern was an American violinist.
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist. Born and partially raised in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from the Juilliard School and Harvard University, attended Columbia University, and has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world. He has recorded more than 91 albums and received 19 Grammy Awards.
Mark O'Connor is an American fiddle player, composer, guitarist, and mandolinist whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year awards and was a member of three influential musical ensembles: the David Grisman Quintet, The Dregs, and Strength in Numbers.
The Paganini Quartet was an American string quartet founded by cellist Robert Maas and violinist Henri Temianka in 1946. The quartet drew its name from the fact that all four of its instruments, made by Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737), had once been owned by the great Italian violinist and composer Niccolo Paganini (1782–1840).
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it began regular performances at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda.
Leonidas Kavakos is a Greek violinist and conductor. As a violinist, he has won prizes at several international violin competitions, including the Sibelius, Paganini, Naumburg, and Indianapolis competitions. He is an Onassis Foundation scholar. He has also recorded for record labels such as Sony/BMG and BIS. As a conductor, he was an artistic director of the Camerata Salzburg and has been a guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Lewis Kaplan is an American violinist, and pedagogue. He is a senior professor in violin and chamber music at the Juilliard School and has been on the faculty at Mannes School of Music since 1987, both located in New York City.
Simone Fernando Sacconi was an expert Italian violin maker and restorer who studied fellow luthier Antonio Stradivari extensively during his lifetime.
Samuel Zygmuntowicz is a contemporary luthier and is widely regarded as one of the finest violin makers of his generation. He began his instrument making training at age 13, and studied making and restoration under Peter Prier, Carl Becker and René Morel. Since 1985 he has been based in Brooklyn, New York. His early work demonstrates expert skill as a copyist of classic instruments. Later work includes personal models informed by intensive advanced research. Findings from this research have been published in numerous print and digital media. Zygmuntowicz is an active fiddler, playing with several folk music groups. His playing can be heard on the recordings Grand Picnic, and Jump When the Trumpets Blow.
Benoît Marie Rolland, is a bow maker and musician, currently established in Boston, Massachusetts. An internationally renowned bow maker, he is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow and a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (2017).
Jeffrey Alan Kahane is an American classical concert pianist and conductor. He was music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for 20 years, the longest of any music director in the orchestra's history. He is the music director of the Sarasota Music Festival, a program of the Sarasota Orchestra, music director-designate of the San Antonio Philharmonic, and a professor of keyboard studies (Piano) at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, California.
Jean Dominique Adam was an illustrious French Archetier / Bowmaker.
Stephanie Ann Chase is an American classical violinist.
Caressa & Français was a distinguished firm in Paris that specialized in fine musical instruments and bows.
Rembert Wurlitzer Co. was a distinguished firm in New York City that specialized in fine musical instruments and bows.
René A. Morel was an experienced and influential luthier who was highly regarded by leading international string players, who had been described as "arguably the best violin restorer in the world". He served on the juries of many violin-making competitions, and held offices in both the International Society of Violin and Bow Makers (Entente) as well as the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.
Joseph Gaudé (1818–1881) was a French archetier, bowmaker and luthier.
Tarisio is the world's largest seller of fine stringed instruments and bows. Founded in 1999 as an auction house that specializes in string instruments and bows, Tarisio now has locations in New York, London and Berlin and serves a global clientele.
Bein & Fushi, Inc. is a stringed instrument dealership and repair shop in Chicago founded in 1976, known internationally for its dealership of antique string instruments such as those made by luthiers Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri. Bein & Fushi includes the Stradivari Society, known for lending rare violins to young aspiring artists.
