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Colin Carr

About this Artist

British cellist COLIN CARR has garnered wide-spread acclaim for his lyrical and musical interpretations, and for his technical virtuosity. Carr, who is the only British cellist to win first prize in the Naumburg International Cello Competition, is in demand in music centers throughout the world.

As a soloist with orchestra, Carr has performed throughout North America with the symphonies of Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Montreal, and Vancouver. His acclaimed solo recitals have taken him to major cities each season, most recently to New York, Boston, and Washington. Internationally, he performs at the London Promenade Concerts and has appeared with such European orchestras as the BBC Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonia, RIAS Berlin, and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

Colin Carr was selected as a finalist for a 1993 NAIRD Indie Award for his solo recording featuring the unaccompanied cello works of Zoltan Kodály, George Crumb, Benjamin Britten, and Gunther Schuller (GM Recordings). Carr’s most recent recording is the Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, performed live at Boston’s Jordan Hall for GM Recordings. He can also be heard as soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic on one of BBC Music Magazine’s monthly releases.

Colin Carr’s activities as a chamber musician are equally varied. He is a regular visitor at the festivals of Bath, Edinburgh, Spoleto, and Marlboro. He has performed as a guest with the Guarneri String Quartet and the Chamber Music Societies of Lincoln Center and Boston.

Carr also devotes significant time each year to the Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio, with whom he has recorded and toured extensively in the course of the last twelve years. Their most recent recording, the Dvorák Piano Trios, was released by Arabesque Recordings in April 1999. Touring in the 1999/2000 season with performances in New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, they won spectacular reviews for their performances of the Piano Trio of Nicholas Maw, a composer whose work they have championed.

Carr is the winner of many prestigious awards, including the Piatigorsky Memorial Award, Second Grand Prize in the Rostropovich International Cello Competition, and First Prize in the Young Concert Artist’s International Auditions.

He began studying the cello at age five; three years later he went to Yehudi Menuhin School, where he studied with Maurice Gendron. At 16, Carr performed the Brahms Double Concerto with Menuhin, with whom he collaborated many times since. Carr has been on the faculty of the New England Conservatory since 1983.

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