Amanda Forsyth (Cello)
Canadian Juno Award-winning Amanda Forsyth is considered one of North
America's most dynamic cellists. She has achieved her international reputation
as soloist, chamber musician and was principal cello of Canada’s National Arts
Centre Orchestra from 1999 to 2015. Her intense richness of tone, remarkable
technique and exceptional musicality combine to enthrall audiences and critics
alike.
She has performed on tours with the Royal Philharmonic and Israel
Philharmonic Orchestras, and has appeared with such orchestras as Orchestre
Radio de France, Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra
and the Maggio Musicale Orchestra. In the U.S. she has performed with the San
Diego, Colorado, Oregon and Grand Rapids Symphonies and appeared with the Dallas
Symphony in both Texas and on tour. Performances with the Moscow Virtuosi in
both Moscow and St Petersburg in 2011 were filmed for national television
broadcast. In June 2012 Ms. Forsyth appeared with the Mariinsky Orchestra in St
Petersburg conducted by Valery Gergiev and was reengaged as part of the
reopening of the hall in 2013. In March 2014, Ms. Forsyth made her Carnegie Hall
debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Last season Ms. Forsyth was invited for her first homecoming tour of South
Africa performing Malcom Forsyth's Elektra Rising among other repertoire. She
was then re-engaged to return in March 2016 for solo performances. Her season
began in Australia with concerts in Sydney and Perth followed by a South
American tour to Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, performing works with
orchestra by Dvorak, Bruch and Brahms, and appearing with the Zukerman Trio.
Other concerto highlights include the Herbert Cello Concert with the San Carlo
Orchestra in Naples, Italy, and the Shostakovich Concerto with the Gyonggi
Philharmonic in Korea. Brahms Double Concerto performances bring her to Mumbai
with the Israel Philharmonic, and Spain and the United Kingdom with the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra; North American performances of this work will take place
in Calgary and Greensboro, NC. She performs with Bargemusic's Masterworks Series
in New York City and tours with the Zukerman Trio to Korea, Italy, Japan, and to
the 92nd Street Y's Distinguished Artist Series.
As a founding member of the Zukerman ChamberPlayers she has visited Germany,
Israel, Italy, Finland, Holland, Switzerland, New Zealand, Turkey, and cities
such as London, Vienna, Paris, Belgrade, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Warsaw and
Barcelona, and performed for the Petra Conference for Nobel Laureates in Jordan.
In addition, this ensemble was celebrated in a series in New York at the 92nd
Street Y and performed several South American tours. A regular guest artist at
Japan’s Miyazaki Festival, she also appeared in gala fundraising concerts
following the Japanese earthquake disaster. As cellist of the Zukerman Trio, she
has performed in Hungary, Turkey, Russia, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Romania and
the US including summer festivals in Edinburgh, Verbier, BBC Proms and
Ravinia.
Ms. Forsyth’s recordings appear on the Sony Classics, Naxos, Altara, Fanfare,
Marquis, Pro Arte and CBC labels. In 2002 she was the subject of the Bravo!
Canada television documentary Amanda Rising: The Amanda Forsyth Story. The
program followed Ms. Forsyth’s life from her early years as a young South
African immigrant to her later success on the international music scene. In 2007
Ms. Forsyth featured prominently on Wynton Marsalis’s soundtrack for The War,
Ken Burns’s widely-acclaimed World War II documentary filmed for PBS. Her
recording of Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet with the Zukerman ChamberPlayers and
Yefim Bronfman was released by Sony in 2008;a recording of the Brahms Double
Concerto with Pinchas Zukerman and the National Arts Centre Orchestra was
released last fall by Analekta Records.
Born in South Africa, Ms. Forsyth moved to Canada as a child and began
playing cello at age three. She became a protégé of William Pleeth in London,
and later studied with Harvey Shapiro at the Juilliard School. Ms. Forsyth
performs on a rare 1699 Italian cello by Carlo Giuseppe Testore.
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