Hailed as “an artist able to cast a spell” by the New Yorker, cellist CHRIS FINCKEL is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied cello with Mischa Schneider and Orlando Cole and chamber music with the Guarneri Quartet. A member of the Manhattan String Quartet since 1995 he is also cellist of the New York New Music Ensemble and the North Country Chamber Players of New Hampshire.
A frequent guest artist with such renowned ensembles as the Tokyo String Quartet and the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, Mr. Finckel has appeared at the Casals, Santa Fe, Ravinia, Saratoga, Norfolk and Rockport Chamber Music festivals, and has recorded for the Nonesuch, New World, CRI, Bridge and Vanguard record labels.
A dedicated performer of 20th-century music, Mr. Finckel has been involved in New York City’s contemporary music scene for many decades. Through his affiliations with such organizations as the New York New Music Ensemble, Parnassus, The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and Speculum Musicae, he has participated in the premieres of the works of over 100 composers including Milton Babbitt, Elliot Carter, George Crumb, Mario Davidovsky, Jacob Druckman, Donald Martino, Steve Reich and Charles Wuorinen.
Mr. Finckel is the co-founder and artistic director of the Sarajevo Chamber Music Festival, a performing and teaching festival produced in conjunction with the Sarajevo Academy of Music in the Bosnian capital. He lives in Yonkers, NY with his wife, violinist Deborah Wong, and their two children, stage designer Emeline and percussionist Paul.