About this Artist

Cellist NATHANIEL ROSEN gained American recognition upon winning the 1977 International Naumburg Competition, and international stardom the following year when he became the only American cellist ever to win the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky International Competition.

At age six, Rosen began studying the cello with Eleonore Schoenfeld in his native California. Seven years later he met the legendary Gregor Piatigorsky, who soon became his teacher and mentor. By 22, Rosen had become his assistant as well, a post he retained for five years. Since then, he has been the esteemed guest soloist with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the New York, Los Angeles, and Czech philharmonics; the Leipzig Gewandhaus; the Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Dresden State orchestras; l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; and the London, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Dallas, Houston, and Vancouver symphonies. In recent seasons he has performed regularly in Europe and Japan, as well as a variety of solo and chamber appearances throughout North America.

At 17, Nathaniel Rosen toured the Soviet Union as a finalist in the Third International Tchaikovsky Competition, where he was the youngest of the 42 competing cellists, and one of three Americans to win a prize. He returned the Moscow twelve years later (1978) and became, with violinist Elmar Oliveira, the first Gold Medal-winning American instrumentalists since Van Cliburn (1958).