MEET THE MUSICIANS

VIOLONCELLO LAURA METCALF

Cellist Laura Metcalf is active in New York City and beyond as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and teacher.

Laura devotes much of her focus to performing chamber music. She is cellist of the Sybarite Chamber Players, a unique string ensemble dedicated to eclectic programming and bringing about new works specifically written for the group. Sybarite has been featured on local and international television, was invited to perform for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and was the first-ever quintet to take part in the Advanced Quartet Studies program at the Aspen Music Festival. With pianist Monica Chung, she has attended the 2008 International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove, and given recitals at the Shandelee Music Festival and Faust-Harrison Pianos in New York. She is a member of Ten O'Clock Classics, a touring collective of soloists committed to performance and outreach. 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 and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. With cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton, she performed 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.

She has performed as a soloist with the Ensemble 212 Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa (as a member of the Tarab Cello Ensemble). She has been the winner of Boston University’s Bach Competition and a semi-finalist in the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Competition, and her trio was the highest-ranked North American ensemble in the ARD Competition in Munich, Germany.

Laura has been invited to such festivals as Prussia Cove’s Open Chamber Music, the Taos, Aspen, and Sarasota Music Festivals, and the American Conservatoire in Fontainebleau, France.

Laura serves on the faculty of Opus 118 Harlem School of Music, and also maintains a private teaching studio. She received her Master of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music in 2006, where she studied with Timothy Eddy and received the James Hughes Award for excellence in performance upon graduation. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2004 from Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.