![Amanda Forsyth (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Amanda_Forsyth_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Amanda Forsyth (born 12 October 1966) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
cellist
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...
and the former principal cellist of the
National Arts Centre Orchestra
The National Arts Centre Orchestra (NAC Orchestra) is a Canadian orchestra based in Ottawa, Ontario led by music director Alexander Shelley. The NAC Orchestra's primary concert venue is Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre. Since its inceptio ...
.
Biography
Daughter of
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
Malcolm Forsyth
Malcolm Forsyth, (December 8, 1936 – July 5, 2011) was a South African and Canadian Trombone, trombonist and composer. His daughter is former National Arts Centre, National Arts Centre Orchestra principal cellist Amanda Forsyth.
Life and ca ...
, Forsyth came to Canada from South Africa at age 2 and began playing the cello at age 3. She became a protégé of
William Pleeth
William Pleeth OBE (12 January 1916 – 6 April 1999) was a well-known British cellist and an eminent teacher, who became widely known as the teacher of Jacqueline du Pré.
Biography
Early years
William Pleeth was born in London. His p ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and later studied with
Harvey Shapiro at the
Juilliard
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
School in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and with
Lynn Harrell
Lynn Harrell (January 30, 1944 – April 27, 2020) was an American classical cellist. Known for the "penetrating richness" of his sound, Harrell performed internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with major orchestras o ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. After two seasons with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, she became the youngest principal ever selected by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra where she remained for six years. In 1999, Forsyth was appointed principal cello of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, a position she left in 2015 to pursue her solo and chamber music career.
Forsyth is a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician appearing with orchestras and chamber music festivals worldwide.
Forsyth and her husband, violinist
Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman ( he, פנחס צוקרמן, born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli-American violinist, violist and conductor.
Life and career
Zukerman was born in Tel Aviv, to Jewish parents and Holocaust survivors Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zuk ...
, often appear together as soloists. She has also collaborated with artists such as
Lynn Harrell
Lynn Harrell (January 30, 1944 – April 27, 2020) was an American classical cellist. Known for the "penetrating richness" of his sound, Harrell performed internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with major orchestras o ...
,
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...
,
Garrick Ohlsson
Garrick Olof Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist. He is the only American to have won first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition, at the VIII competition in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Com ...
,
Jon Kimura Parker
Jon Kimura Parker (born 25 December 1959) is a Canadian pianist.
Early life and education
Jon Kimura Parker was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the son of Keiko Parker and John Parker. He began his studies with his uncle, Edward P ...
,
Yefim Bronfman
Yefim "Fima" Naumovich Bronfman (russian: Ефим Наумович Бронфман; born April 10, 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist.
Biography
Bronfman was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, and immigrated to Israel at the age of 15. H ...
,
Joseph Kalichstein
Joseph Kalichstein (15 January 1946 – 31 March 2022) was an American classical pianist who performed in the concerto, solo recital and chamber music repertoire, the latter mainly with Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson (cellist), Sharon Robinson ...
,
Jaime Laredo
Jaime Laredo (born June 7, 1941) is a violinist and conductor. He was the conductor and Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and he began his musical career when he was five years old.
Laredo was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia. In 1948 ...
,
Arnold Steinhardt Arnold Steinhardt (born 1937 in Los Angeles, California) is an American violinist, best known as the first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet.
Steinhardt made his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 14. He studied ...
,
Michael Tree
Michael Tree (February 19, 1934 – March 30, 2018), born Michael Applebaum, was an American violist.
Biography
Tree was born in Newark, New Jersey. His principal studies were with Efrem Zimbalist on violin and viola at the Curtis Institute o ...
, and
Louis Lortie
Louis Lortie, OC, CQ (born 27 April 1959) is a Canadian ( Québécois) pianist.
Education
Born in Montreal, Lortie made his debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at the age of thirteen and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra three years l ...
.
Forsyth is the cellist of the
Zukerman Chamber Players
The Zukerman Chamber Players is a world-renowned chamber ensemble led by violinist and violist Pinchas Zukerman. Formed in 2003, they have performed over 40 concerts around the world and recorded four CDs.
The ensemble comprises Pinchas Zukerman ( ...
, which has toured worldwide since 2003. In 2007 she also collaborated with
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...
in New York, recording the sound track for
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...
's 7-part television film about
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
for
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
.
Forsyth performs on a 1699 cello by
Carlo Giuseppe Testore
Carlo Giuseppe Testore (c. 1665–1738) was an Italian luthier, who worked in his later life in Milan.
Biography
Testore was born in Novara. A student of Giovanni Grancino, he went to Milan in 1687 and set up his workshop at the Sign of the Eag ...
.
Selected recordings
* Soaring with Agamemnon
* Electra Rising: The Music of Malcolm Forsyth
* Zukerman Conducts Mozart
* American Journey
* Palm Court Encores (with Ensemble Vivant)
* Mozart: Flute Quartets
References
External links
Official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forsyth, Amanda
1966 births
Canadian classical cellists
Canadian people of South African descent
Juilliard School alumni
Living people
Canadian women classical cellists