Curtis Macomber, violin

Curtis Macomber is recognized as one of the most versatile soloists and chamber musicians before the public today, equally at home and committed to works from Bach to Babbitt, and with a discography which includes the complete Brahms String Quartets as well as the Roger Sessions Solo Sonata.

A featured lecture/recitalist in the first American Violin Congress in June of 1987, he was Second Prize winner in the 1980 Rockefeller Foundation International Competition for the Performance of Twentieth Century American Violin Music.

Mr. Macomber has appeared in recital at Carnegie Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Miller Theatre, and the Kennedy Center , and has been soloist with the Musica Aeterna Orchestra, the Juilliard Symphony, Great Neck Symphony, Westchester Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony, and at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.

As first violinist of the award-winning New World String Quartet for 11 years (1982-1993), Mr. Macomber performed most of the standard repertoire as well as numerous contemporary works in performances i11 major halls throughout the United States and Europe, and with the Quartet was appointed Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University from 1982-1990; with that group he also recorded 14 discs and performed numerous times on Public Radio and Television in this country, and the BBC in Great Britain.

A founding member of the Apollo Piano Trio and the Bridge Horn Trio, and a member of the 20th-Century music ensemble Speculum Musicae since 1991, Mr. Macomber has also appeared with the Sea Cliff Chamber Players, New York New Music Ensemble, Group for Contemporary Music, New York Chamber Soloists, and in chamber music series across the country and in Europe.

He has recorded for Nonesuch, Koch International, Vanguard, Pickwick, and Musical Heritage; CRI has recently released his second solo recording, entitled “Songs of Solitude”, which the New York Observer named one of 1996’s best instrumental solo discs; and the Violin-Piano Sonatas of Amy Beach and John Corigliano, with pianist Diane Walsh, are available on Koch.

Mr. Macomber is a member of the chamber music faculty of the Juilliard School and the violin faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, and has also taught at Utah State University, Montclair State College and Calvin College.

He holds his B.M., M.M., and D.M.A. degrees from the Juilliard School , where he was a scholarship student of Joseph Fuchs and winner of the Morris Loeb and Walter Naumburg Prizes. (October 28, 2001)