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Cellist Laura Metcalf lives in New York, where she engages herself in as many musical activities as time will allow. Praised for her "sensitive, melodic touch" (Blog Critics Magazine) and active as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and teacher, she is a versatile musician who is always expanding her artistic boundaries.
Laura devotes much of her focus to performing chamber music. She is cellist and founding member of the Ansonia Trio, who were the Grand Prize Winners of the 2009 Rutenberg Competition in Tampa, Florida. Since its inception in 2009, the trio has been praised for its "tremendous musical range" and "consummate skill." She is also a member of Sybarite 5, a unique string ensemble dedicated to eclectic programming and commissioning new works. Sybarite 5 has been featured on NPR's Performance Today and medici.tv, and was the first-ever quintet to be admitted into the Advanced Quartet Studies program at the Aspen Music Festival. She has given solo recitals at the Shandelee Music Festival, WMP Strad for Lunch Series, Livingston Music Club Series, and Faust-Harrison Pianos in New York. She is a member of Ten O'Clock Classics, a collective of soloists committed to performance and outreach, with whom she completed a 27-concert USA tour in 2010. She is a member of the Tarab Cello Ensemble, a group of 8 cellists with whom she has performed in the U.S and abroad. She has appeared on the Festival Chamber Music series at Weill and Merkin Concert Halls, and with the Elysium Chamber Ensemble at the Tenri Institute, collaborating with members of the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Orpheus. With acclaimed cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton, she performed at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC and in the French Institute Alliance Francaise 2008 Fall Festival. She has also performed chamber music in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, the Chateau de Fontainebleau in France, the French Consulate of New York, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Bruno Walter Auditorium, and many others.
In October 2007, Laura gave her New York concerto debut with the Ensemble 212 Orchestra performing Beethoven's Triple Concerto. With the Tarab Cello Ensemble, she was featured as a soloist with the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa las Artes in Mexico, performing a new concerto by Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. In 2005, she was selected to perform at the New York Violoncello Society in a masterclass for Bernard Greenhouse, and has also played in masterclasses for Ralph Kirshbaum, Ronald Leonard, Paul Katz, Steven Doane, Norman Fischer, Colin Carr, Pamela Frank, and others.
As a member of the Stella Piano Trio from 2006-2007, she gave her New York recital debut in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in November 2006. The trio also performed at Detroit's Orchestra Hall and the J.P. Morgan Library, and collaborated with the New York Composers Circle and the South Oxford Six composer collective. The Stella Trio participated in the 2007 ARD International Competition in Munich, Germany, where they were the highest-ranked North American ensemble.
Laura is a regular visitor to the IMS Prussia Cove in Cornwall, England, where she has performed in masterclasses for Ralph Kirshbaum, David Waterman, and Valeria Szervansky and is routinely invited to take part in the Open Chamber Music Seminar at Prussia Cove. During the summers, Laura has performed at the Taos, Sarasota, Aspen, and Round Top (Texas) Music Festivals, the London Masterclasses, the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau (France), the Mannes Beethoven Institute, and the Quartet Program.
Laura is assistant principal cellist of the Chamber Orchestra of New York, which gave its inaugural concert in Zankel Hall in October 2007, and regularly appears as a member of Michael Tilson Thomas's New World Symphony in Miami Beach, and the Key West Symphony in Key West, Florida.
Laura also ventures outside the classical realm. She has appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Today Show, and the View, and has performed with Donna Summer, Dave Stewart, Clay Aiken, Chromeo, Grahm Colton, and others. She has also appeared with various artists and bands around New York at Joe's Pub, the Cutting Room, Rockwood Music Hall, Highline Ballroom, Mercury Lounge and the Living Room, among others, and was part of the onstage band in the new musical "The Piper" in the 2007 New York Musical Theatre Festival.
Laura received her Master of Music degree in May 2006 from the Mannes College of Music, where she studied with Timothy Eddy and was awarded the James E. Hughes award for excellence in performance. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University's College of Fine Arts, where, as recipient of the prestigious Trustee Scholarship, she was a student of Michael Reynolds and winner of the 2003 Solo Bach Competition.
In addition to performing, Laura is a dedicated teacher. She serves on the faculties of Opus 118 Harlem School of Music (through which she also teaches group cello lessons at PS 129 in West Harlem) and the Island Arts Music Center on Roosevelt Island, and enthusiastically maintains a private studio of students of all ages.
FULL BIO:
Cellist Laura Metcalf lives in New York, where she engages herself in as many musical activities as time will allow. Praised for her "sensitive, melodic touch" (Blog Critics Magazine) and active as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and teacher, she is a versatile musician who is always expanding her artistic boundaries.
Laura devotes much of her focus to performing chamber music. She is cellist and founding member of the Ansonia Trio, who were the Grand Prize Winners of the 2009 Rutenberg Competition in Tampa, Florida. Since its inception in 2009, the trio has been praised for its "tremendous musical range" and "consummate skill." She is also a member of Sybarite 5, a unique string ensemble dedicated to eclectic programming and commissioning new works. Sybarite 5 has been featured on NPR's Performance Today and medici.tv, and was the first-ever quintet to be admitted into the Advanced Quartet Studies program at the Aspen Music Festival. She has given solo recitals at the Shandelee Music Festival, WMP Strad for Lunch Series, Livingston Music Club Series, and Faust-Harrison Pianos in New York. She is a member of Ten O'Clock Classics, a collective of soloists committed to performance and outreach, with whom she completed a 27-concert USA tour in 2010. She is a member of the Tarab Cello Ensemble, a group of 8 cellists with whom she has performed in the U.S and abroad. She has appeared on the Festival Chamber Music series at Weill and Merkin Concert Halls, and with the Elysium Chamber Ensemble at the Tenri Institute, collaborating with members of the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Orpheus. With acclaimed cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton, she performed at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC and in the French Institute Alliance Francaise 2008 Fall Festival. She has also performed chamber music in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, the Chateau de Fontainebleau in France, the French Consulate of New York, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Bruno Walter Auditorium, and many others.
In October 2007, Laura gave her New York concerto debut with the Ensemble 212 Orchestra performing Beethoven's Triple Concerto. With the Tarab Cello Ensemble, she was featured as a soloist with the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa las Artes in Mexico, performing a new concerto by Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. In 2005, she was selected to perform at the New York Violoncello Society in a masterclass for Bernard Greenhouse, and has also played in masterclasses for Ralph Kirshbaum, Ronald Leonard, Paul Katz, Steven Doane, Norman Fischer, Colin Carr, Pamela Frank, and others.
As a member of the Stella Piano Trio from 2006-2007, she gave her New York recital debut in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in November 2006. The trio also performed at Detroit's Orchestra Hall and the J.P. Morgan Library, and collaborated with the New York Composers Circle and the South Oxford Six composer collective. The Stella Trio participated in the 2007 ARD International Competition in Munich, Germany, where they were the highest-ranked North American ensemble.
Laura is a regular visitor to the IMS Prussia Cove in Cornwall, England, where she has performed in masterclasses for Ralph Kirshbaum, David Waterman, and Valeria Szervansky and is routinely invited to take part in the Open Chamber Music Seminar at Prussia Cove. During the summers, Laura has performed at the Taos, Sarasota, Aspen, and Round Top (Texas) Music Festivals, the London Masterclasses, the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau (France), the Mannes Beethoven Institute, and the Quartet Program.
Laura is assistant principal cellist of the Chamber Orchestra of New York, which gave its inaugural concert in Zankel Hall in October 2007, and regularly appears as a member of Michael Tilson Thomas's New World Symphony in Miami Beach, and the Key West Symphony in Key West, Florida.
Laura also ventures outside the classical realm. She has appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Today Show, and the View, and has performed with Donna Summer, Dave Stewart, Clay Aiken, Chromeo, Grahm Colton, and others. She has also appeared with various artists and bands around New York at Joe's Pub, the Cutting Room, Rockwood Music Hall, Highline Ballroom, Mercury Lounge and the Living Room, among others, and was part of the onstage band in the new musical "The Piper" in the 2007 New York Musical Theatre Festival.
Laura received her Master of Music degree in May 2006 from the Mannes College of Music, where she studied with Timothy Eddy and was awarded the James E. Hughes award for excellence in performance. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University's College of Fine Arts, where, as recipient of the prestigious Trustee Scholarship, she was a student of Michael Reynolds and winner of the 2003 Solo Bach Competition.
In addition to performing, Laura is a dedicated teacher. She serves on the faculties of Opus 118 Harlem School of Music (through which she also teaches group cello lessons at PS 129 in West Harlem) and the Island Arts Music Center on Roosevelt Island, and enthusiastically maintains a private studio of students of all ages.
