Note: We cover a wide range of topics in this in-depth conversation. In case you'd like to move around and focus on one or another, here is a timeline of the topics discussed:
0:00 Intros and Greetings
1:40 David on St. Cecilia Music Center
2:20 Recent Activities
5:12 "Let's Talk About Schubert..." The "Schubertiade"; What makes Schubert unique.
14:30 The players: "We have an incredible line-up coming..."
17:38 The F Minor Fantasy
18:33 Rondo Brillant
19:46 Benjamin Beilman
20:20 Anne-Marie Mcdermot
21:20 Wrap Up
Bio:
David Finckel stands among the most distinguished and influential cellists of his
generation, celebrated worldwide as a performer, recording artist, educator, and artistic
leader. He has performed extensively with his longtime musical partner, pianist Wu Han,
as well as on the world’s stages as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. During
thirty-four seasons with the Emerson String Quartet, he garnered nine Grammy Awards,
the Avery Fisher Prize, and universal acclaim for complete quartet cycles of Beethoven,
Schubert, Brahms, Bartók, Shostakovich, in addition to notable collaborative projects
and commissioned works.
As Artistic Co-Director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and co-founder
of Music@Menlo, he has been a guiding presence in the chamber-music world, known
for imaginative programming, committed mentorship, and a record of visionary artistic
leadership.
Together with pianist Wu Han, Finckel founded ArtistLed, the first internet-based, artist-controlled classical recording label in 1997, building a catalog of more than 20 releases
that include masterworks of the cello-piano repertoire and numerous commissioned
works composed for the duo by George Tsontakis, Gabriela Lena Frank, Bruce Adolphe,
Lera Auerbach, Edwin Finckel, Augusta Read Thomas, and Pierre Jalbert. His
orchestral recordings include both the Dvořák and Harbison concertos.
A devoted mentor and educator, Finckel serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School and
Stony Brook University and directs the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s
Bowers Program and Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute. Early in his career, he
was privileged to work with the legendary Mstislav Rostropovich as his first American
student and later collaborated with the late Isaac Stern as faculty for Stern’s Chamber
Music Encounters in Israel, New York, and Japan.
In recognition of his exceptional artistry and leadership, David Finckel received Musical
America’s Musician of the Year Award, an honor he shared with pianist Wu Han for their
transformative impact on the field of chamber music.
