Peter Stumpf

Cello
Principal, Bram and Elaine Goldsmith Chair

After serving 12 years as the Associate Principal Cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, PETER STUMPF became the Principal Cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the start of the 2002/03 season. At the age of 16 he began his professional career, winning a position in the cello section of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. He received a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and an Artist’s Diploma from the New England Conservatory.
 
A dedicated chamber music musician, he is a member of the Johannes String Quartet and has appeared on chamber music series at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the concert halls of Cologne, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and at Casals Hall in Tokyo, as well as with the Boston Celebrity Series and the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles. He has performed with the chamber music societies of Boston and Philadelphia and at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico as well as the festivals of Marlboro, Santa Fe, Bridgehampton, Ottawa, Great Lakes, Ojai, Spoleto, and Aspen. He has toured with Music from Marlboro, the Casals Hall Ensemble in Japan, and with pianist Mitsuko Uchida in performances of the complete Mozart Piano Trios. He has collaborated with pianists Leif Ove Andsnes, Emmanuel Ax, Jorge Bolet, Yefim Bronfman, Radu Lupu, Wolfgang Sawallisch, András Schiff, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Mitsuko Uchida, and with the Emerson and Guarneri string quartets. Most recently, the Johannes Quartet has collaborated with the Guarneri Quartet on a tour including commissions from composers William Bolcom and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
 
Stumpf’s concerto appearances have been with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Philharmonic, the Virginia Symphony, the Vermont Symphony, the Connecticut String Orchestra, the Worcester Orchestra, the Delaware Valley Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay, the Orchard Park Symphony, the Colorado Philharmonic, the American Youth Symphony, and at the Aspen Music Festival. As a recitalist he has performed at the Universities of Hartford, Syracuse, and Delaware, at Jordan Hall in Boston, and at the Philips and Corcoran Galleries in Washington, D.C. Most recently he has performed J. S. Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society Series and on the Chamber Music in Historic Sites Series in Los Angeles. His awards include first prize in the Washington International Competition, the Graham-Stahl Competition, and the Aspen Concerto Competition; and 2nd Prize in the Evian International String Quartet Competition.
 
As a member of Boston Musica Viva he has explored extended performance techniques, including microtonal compositions and numerous premieres. As a teacher he has served on the cello faculty of the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford and the New England Conservatory, and has been on the guest artist faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music as well as at the Yellow Barn Music Festival and the Musicorda Summer String Program. He has conducted master classes at the Manhattan and Mannes Schools of Music, Pennsylvania State University, Temple University, and at the universities of Delaware and Michigan. He is currently on the cello faculty of the University of Southern California.