Stefan Popov (born 3 April 1940) is an internationally recognised Bulgarian cellist. He started playing the cello at the age of 12 and, having won a scholarship, continued his training at the Moscow Conservatory where he studied under Sviatoslav Knushevitsky and Mstislav Rostropovich from 1961 to 1966. He became a prize-winner in many music competitions, including Geneva, Florence and Vienna. In 1966, as a finalist he won a medal in the International Tchaikovsky Competition for cello. Around the same time as the Tchaikovsky competition, he was also awarded a prize from the Union of Soviet Composers for his performance of Russian music.
From 1971 to 1975 he taught at the Boston University and he was the head of the cello department of the New England Conservatory. From 1977 to date, he lives in the United Kingdom, where he is a professor of cello at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He performs regularly and leads numerous cello masterclasses privately, as well as at music festivals and in state conservatoires throughout the world.
He has had performances broadcast on radio and television, as well as having recorded numerous CDs. In 2006, he recorded and transcribed Beethoven's violin concerto for cello, to coincide with the 200 year anniversary of its first performance. He stated that he did this also in part "to compensate for the fact that no Beethoven cello concerto was ever written" and to commemorate what is generally regarded as one of the greatest concertos for any instrument.
In 2008 he was awarded the "Chevalier du violoncelle" title at the Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center for his contribution to the cause of cello playing. [1]
David Fyodorovich Oistrakh was a Soviet Russian violinist, violist, and conductor. He was also Professor at the Moscow Conservatory, People's Artist of the USSR (1953), and Laureate of the Lenin Prize (1960).
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Born in the Soviet Union, he has held Icelandic citizenship since 1972 and has been a resident of Switzerland since 1978. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, he has recorded a large repertoire of classical and romantic works. His recordings have earned him five Grammy awards and Iceland's Order of the Falcon.
Mikhail Vasilievich Pletnev is a Russian pianist, conductor and composer.
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time.
David Geringas is a Lithuanian cellist and conductor who studied under Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1970 he won the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He also plays the baryton, a rare instrument associated with music of Joseph Haydn.
John O'Conor is an Irish pianist and pedagogue, and former director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
Carlos Prieto is a Mexican cellist and writer, born in Mexico City. He has received enthusiastic public acclaim and won excellent reviews for his performances throughout the United States, Europe, Russia and the former Soviet Union, Asia, and Latin America. The New York Times review of his Carnegie Hall debut raved, "Prieto knows no technical limitations and his musical instincts are impeccable."
Augustin Hadelich is an Italian-German-American Grammy-winning classical violinist.
Ralph Henry Kirshbaum is an American cellist. His award-winning career combines the worlds of solo performance, chamber music, recording and pedagogy.
Enrique Graf is a Uruguayan-American pianist.
Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi is a world renowned Japanese cellist. In an international career which began in 1954, Tsutsumi has performed and recorded all of the principal standard works in the cello repertoire, both solo and concerto. He has appeared as soloist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C..
Aldo Simoes Parisot was a Brazilian-born American cellist and cello teacher. He was first a member of the Juilliard School faculty, and then went on to serve as a music professor at the Yale School of Music for sixty years, the longest-serving member of that school's faculty ever.
Andrew Shulman is an English virtuoso cellist, conductor and composer. He is currently the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and maintains his cello studio at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, California.
Mikhail Voskresensky is a Russian pianist and music pedagogue who left Russia for the United States in 2022 protesting against Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Bion Yu-Ting Tsang is an American cellist and professor.
Sviatoslav Nikolayevich Knushevitsky was a Soviet-Russian classical cellist. He was particularly noted for his partnership with the violinist David Oistrakh and the pianist Lev Oborin in a renowned piano trio from 1940 until his death. After Mstislav Rostropovich and Daniil Shafran, he is spoken of as one of the pre-eminent Russian cellists of the 20th century.
Igor Zubkovsky is a Russian cellist.
Konstantin Lapshin is a London-based Russian - British pianist. He is a prize-winner in numerous international competitions.
Li-Wei Qin is a Chinese-Australian cellist. He won the Silver Medal at the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1998, and First Prize at the 2001 International Naumburg Competition in New York.
Gustav Rivinius is a German cellist and professor for cello at the Hochschule für Musik Saar.