Alan Stepansky

Cello

Alan Stepansky is recognized as one of the most gifted and versatile cellists of his generation. After a distinguished orchestral career playing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, serving as Principal Cellist of the Boston Pops, and culminating in a ten-year tenure as associate Principal Cellist of the New York Philharmonic, he is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, principal cellist, and recording artist. He is currently Professor of Cello at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, at the Manhattan School of Music, and cello faculty artist of one of the world's most prestigious summer festivals, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California.

He has performed as a guest artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Jazz at Lincoln Center, and has appeared in concert with a diverse array of artists including Isaac Stern, Emanuel Ax, Renee Fleming, Frederika Von Stade, and the Takacs String Quartet. He has recorded a series of chamber music and solo discs for EMI, which were honored by Gramophone Magazine, BBC Magazine, The New York Times, and the British Music Industry Association, and has been engaged as the solo cellist for numerous major motion picture soundtracks. He has also appeared on the albums of many noted recording artists across many genres, including David Byrne, Natalie Merchant, Audra McDonald, Joss Stone, Shawn Colvin, and Sting. Recently, he served as the Principal Cellist for four major fund-raising events held in Carnegie Hall, Beethoven's Ninth for South Asia, Requiem for Darfur, Mahler for the Children of AIDS, and Beethoven for the Indus Valley, which featured an international orchestra drawn from leading symphonic, chamber music, and solo artists from around the world.

After studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Stepansky graduated from Harvard University with the Horblit Prize, conferred for his outstanding musical accomplishments. Among recent engagements, he returned to perform as soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall, and has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic and many other orchestras. A guest at many summer festivals, Mr. Stepansky has appeared at the Texas Music Festival, Domaine Forget Festival in Quebec, the Heifetz Institute, the National Orchestral Institute, and as the international cello artist of the Beijing International Music Festival in Beijing and Shanghai. He serves on the board of directors of Music For Life International, and is also Artistic Director and Co-Founder of MusicWorks for Peace, an organization that presents diverse concerts and supports music education programs and workshops in underserved elementary, middle, and high schools.

Alan Stepansky's students have won positions in numerous orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Asia, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Montreal Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and have successful careers as soloists, chamber musicians, and teachers. He plays a rare cello made in 1708 by Pieter Rombouts of Amsterdam.