Mark Kosower

One of the outstanding cellists of his generation, Mark Kosower has earned an international reputation among musicians and critics alike for his extraordinary instrumental mastery, musical integrity, and powerfully expressive performances.

In 2011/12 season, Kosower plays the Boccherini Concerto in D Major G.479 with Ton Koopman and the Cleveland Orchestra in three performances at Severance Hall. Among other dates, he appears with the Erie Philharmonic in performances of the Dvorak Concerto and Saint-Saens’s Le Muse et le Poète; records works by Richard Strauss, Max Reger, and Eberhard Klemmstein with pianist Jee-Won Oh in Germany for the Ambitus label; and plays chamber music at the North Shore Music Festival in Chicago.

Last season Kosower made his debut as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, performing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations at the Blossom Music Festival, and returned to the Florida Orchestra for three performances of the Dvorak Concerto with Stefan Sanderling. He also performed the Haydn C Major Concerto with the New York Chamber Players in their inaugural season; the Schumann Concerto with the Erlangen Chamber Orchestra in Germany; and a recital in Nuremberg, Germany, recorded for the Bavarian Radio. Other recent highlights include a Netherlands debut recital at the de Doelen in Rotterdam, a return recital engagement in Coral Gables, and appearances in Munich and Nuremberg with the Juilliard String Quartet.

An active advocate of 20th and 21st century music, Mark Kosower has brought lesser-known contemporary masterworks to international attention in recent years. His 2011 Naxos release of the two cello concertos of Alberto Ginastera, with Lothar Zagrosek and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, has won widespread critical acclaim – and, with his 2008 disc of the complete Ginastera works for cello and piano, makes him the first cellist to record the complete catalogue of works for solo cello by the composer. In 2011 Naxos also released Kosower’s performance as the soloist in the world premiere recording of Miklós Rózsa’s Rhapsodie for Cello and Orchestra with the Budapest Concert Orchestra MAV. Other premieres have included the world premiere of Cristóbal Halffter’s Klagelied eines verwundeten Vogels for solo cello, as well as U.S. premieres of Yuri Falik’s Concerto della Passione and Marco Stroppa’s Ay, there’s the rub for solo cello. He has recorded the Walton Concerto with James DePriest and the Oregon Symphony.

An eloquent orchestral soloist, Mark Kosower has appeared with the symphony orchestras of Detroit, Florida, Grand Rapids, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Phoenix, Santa Barbara, Seattle, Syracuse, and Toledo; the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, among others. International appearances include the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the China National Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, the Kansai Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Kwa-Zulu Natal Philharmonic, and the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. With these appearances he has collaborated with many prominent conductors such as James DePriest, Christoph Eschenbach, Joanne Falletta, Erich Kunzel, Nicholas McGegan, Anton Nanut, Stefan Sanderling, Gunther Schuller, Gerard Schwarz, Joseph Silverstein, Hugh Wolff, and Lothar Zagrosek.

As a recitalist, Mark Kosower has performed on the Great Performer’s Series at Lincoln Center, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Aspen Music Festival, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He has also given solo performances in some of the world’s most prestigious venues including the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Berlin’s Komische Oper, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, and in New York’s Avery Fisher Hall.

A former member of Chamber Music Two, a two-year residency at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Kosower makes frequent appearances at chamber music societies and festivals throughout the United States and abroad, in performances with such esteemed musicians as Robert Mann, Leon Fleisher, and Janos Starker.

Mark Kosower has received an Avery Fisher Career Grant, a SONY Grant, and has been a top prize winner in both the Rostropovich and Pablo Casals International Cello competitions – including a special prize in both competitions for best interpretation of the newly commissioned works by Marco Stroppa and Cristóbal Halffter. He has also been the Grand Prize winner of both the Irving Klein International String Competition and the WAMSO Competition of the Minnesota Orchestra.

In addition to his activities as a soloist, Mark Kosower was named Principal Cello of the Cleveland Orchestra by Franz Welser-Möst, as well as Teacher of Cello at the Cleveland Institute of Music, in 2009. His previous posts include Solo Cellist of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in Germany from 2006-10, and Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 2005-07. Mark Kosower began his cello studies with his father at the age of 1 ½, and later studied with Janos Starker at Indiana University and Joel Krosnick at the Juilliard School.