Ralph Kirshbaum

At 78 years old, Ralph Kirshbaum physical status not available right now. We will update Ralph Kirshbaum's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Kirshbaum attracted international attention when he won prizes in the 1969 International Gaspar Cassadó Competition in Florence, and subsequently in the 1970 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He made his London debut recital at Wigmore Hall in 1970, his professional orchestral debut with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in 1972, and his New York debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1976.

In his career, Kirshbaum has appeared as soloist with many of the world's major orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and many others. He has also performed with distinguished conductors such as Christoph von Dohnányi, Sir Colin Davis, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir André Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, and Sir Georg Solti.

As a chamber musician, Kirshbaum has collaborated with Yefim Bronfman, Peter Frankl, the Juilliard String Quartet, Garrick Ohlsson, György Pauk, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, the Tokyo String Quartet and Pinchas Zukerman among many others. In particular, his longtime piano trio collaboration with Frankl and Pauk has generated a large number of concerts and recordings. The BBC commissioned Fourteen Little Pictures by James MacMillan to mark their 25th anniversary in 1997.

Kirshbaum founded the RNCM Manchester International Cello Festival in 1988 and was its Artistic Director through to its grand finale in 2007. The festival was held at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he was on the faculty for 38 years.

In the fall of 2008, Kirshbaum assumed an appointment at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music as (i) Chair of the Strings Department and (ii) Gregor Piatigorsky Chair in Cello, an endowed position. He is the fourth person to hold the Piatigorsky Chair. The three predecessors were Lynn Harrell (1986–1993), Ronald Leonard (1993–2003) and Eleonore Schoenfeld (2004–2007).

Kirshbaum’s cello was crafted in 1729 by the Venetian maker Domenico Montagnana. The instrument was previously played by the Italian cellist Carlo Alfredo Piatti.

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