Hailed by John Williams, Grammy award winning composer and conductor as "an outstanding cellist and truly dedicated artist", American cellist Emmanuel Feldman has emerged as one of the most innovative cellists of his generation. Known for his intense soulful playing and a broad range of repertoire and styles, he enjoys an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, champion of new music and educator.
From newly commissioned premieres to collaborations with dance and poetry to performing the classic cello repertoire, Mr. Feldman has joined forces with such artists as the Mark Morris Dance Group, Rebecca Rice Dance, Aurea Ensemble and renowned pop and jazz artist, Bobby McFerrin creating a new and unexpected concert experience. He has performed throughout Europe and North America in concerts at the Franz Liszt Academy, Vienna’s Altes Rathaus, Pablo Casals Festival (Prades), Sarlat Festival, Schlesswig Holstein Musik Festival and has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, New England String Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Merrimack Valley Philharmonic, Greensboro Festival Orchestra, and Boston Philharmonic among others. Following his debut in 2006 on the Bank of America Marquee Celebrity Series, Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe wrote “Emmanuel Feldman was superb in the Bach Solo Suites”.
An avid chamber player, Mr. Feldman has collaborated with pianists, Joy Cline Phinney, Robert Levin, Gilbert Kalish, Jorge Bolet, Yehudi Wyner, Randall Hodgkinson; instrumentalists Richard Stoltzman, Karen Gomyo, Lynn Chang, the Borromeo String Quartet, members of the Lydian String Quartet and was invited to participate in the Marlboro Music Festival. As co-founder of Cello e Basso (formerly the Axiom Duo) with bassist Pascale Delache-Feldman, they have concertized at such distinguished venues as the Phillips Collection, Jordan Hall, Sanders Theater, Franz Liszt Museum, Radio France Paris, commissioned more than a dozen new works and released their first CD on Synergy Classics in 2002. He has also recorded chamber works for the Naxos, Arsis and Zimbel labels.
Mr. Feldman has appeared frequently on radio and television broadcasts including WQXR New York, WCRB and WGBH Boston, Radio France and local cable television. His discography includes a solo album with pianist Mariann Abraham with music by Kodaly, Gershwin and Ligeti on ZenCD and a CD of the music of Pamela Marshall with mezzo-soprano D'Anna Fortunato on Clique Track. His solo album “Rider on the Plains” on Albany Records featuring Virgil Thomson’s cello concerto was hailed as an “excellent new recording…the concerto sounds exhilarating in this bracing and confident performance” by the New York Times (Anthony Tommasini).
A consumate advocate of new music, he has given the premieres and first recordings of cello works by composers Aaron Kernis, Gunther Schuller, Charles Fussell, David Diamond, Jan Swafford, Andrew List, Yakov Yakoulov, John McDonald, Gilbert Trout and others. Emmanuel's own musical compositions have been performed by Cello e Basso, the New England String Ensemble, and the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival.
Mr. Feldman is on the cello faculty at Tufts University, Brown University and New England Conservatory. He has taught at the Yellow Barn Music Festival, Summit Music Festival, Hartwick Music Festival and Killington Music Festival and is often a guest artist for cello and chamber music master classes.