John Moran (born 1963) is an American

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and musicologist. He specializes in historically informed performance of music from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries on the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

and viola da gamba. He studied cello and baroque cello at the

Oberlin Conservatory The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of t ...

, baroque cello at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He has performed and recorded with numerous groups in Europe, including Les Musiciens du Louvre, The Consort of Musicke, English Baroque Soloists. Since 1994 he has lived in the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, area. He is a regular member of REBEL, a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

based

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

ensemble and the music director of Modern Musick, a

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

period-instrument ensemble. He has also appeared with

Opera Lafayette Opera Lafayette is an opera company based in Washington, D.C., that produces French operas from the 17th and 18th centuries. It was founded in 1995 by Ryan Brown and splits its season between Washington and New York City. History Specializing ...

, the

Washington Bach Consort Founded in 1977 by J. Reilly Lewis, the Washington Bach Consort is a professional chorus and orchestra based in Washington, D.C. that is noted for its performance of 18th-century music on period instruments. It has appeared at numerous festivals a ...

, the

Folger Consort Folger is an English and German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Abiah Folger (1667–1752), mother of Benjamin Franklin * Abigail Folger (1943–1969), American civil rights activist * Alonzo Dillard Folger (1888–1941), Amer ...

, the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Players. He teaches viola da gamba and baroque cello at the

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...

, where he is also co-director of the Baltimore Baroque Band. He is currently President of the Viola da Gamba Society of America.

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has called his Bach "eloquent", and praised the "bravado" of his

Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and ''galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major European ...

and the "nimble fluency" of his

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

, while the

LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

has written, "Cellist Moran projected vigorous and expressive bass lines." He is a contributor to the revised New Grove Dictionary of Music (2001), reviews books on musical topics for various journals, and is writing a historical monograph on the cello for

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

. He is married to the violinist Risa Browder.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moran, John 1963 births Alumni of King's College London American classical cellists American musicologists Oberlin College alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty Schola Cantorum Basiliensis alumni Living people American music educators Classical musicians from Virginia