Andrew Shulman

Career

He was formerly principal cellist of the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He was appointed principal cello of London's Philharmonia at the age of 22 by Riccardo Muti. In 1989 he became the first British cellist to win the United States New England Conservatory/Piatigorsky Artist Award

Performances

He has performed cello concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony, Utah Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Gothenburg Symphony and the Singapore Symphony.

He also performed the Haydn D major, Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations and Strauss' Don Quixote at the Royal Festival Hall (with Sir Simon Rattle, broadcast live on the BBC) and the Hollywood Bowl (with Esa-Pekka Salonen).

Awards

He was the first Briton to win the New England Conservatory/Piatigorsky Artist Award, in 1990. He won the major cello prizes at the Royal College of Music and won the Suggia gift and two Countess of Munster Awards.

Recordings

He has recorded 26 CDs with the Britten Quartet (EMI and Collins) and has made solo recordings for Virgin (Vivaldi) and EMI (Janáček). He made a world premiere recording of Delius’ complete cello works, and was solo cello on Elton John's Candle in the Wind 1997. Shulman has also arranged and recorded for American post-punk revival band Louis XIV and has been featured on their last three albums.

Conducting

As conductor, he has performed in Europe and the USA and has conducted the world premieres of several major works, as well as collaborating with some notable soloists, including Rafael Wallfisch, Colin Carr and Bernard d’Ascoli. He was invited by the Britten-Pears Foundation to conduct the first performance of an important early work by Benjamin Britten, with the Britten-Pears Orchestra at Britten's Snape Maltings in Suffolk, England. He has conducted the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Saloman Orchestra, the Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra, The Jonkoping Orchestra, the Ambache Chamber Orchestra, the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra, the Leicester Symphony Orchestra, the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Royal College of Music Chamber Orchestra, the Ulster Youth Orchestra, the Guildhall School of Music Chamber Orchestra and the Hertfordshire Symphony Orchestra.

Composition

Shulman also composes, and recently premiered his Smaller Music For Strings in the UK, as well as collaborating with the German rock guitarist Uli Jon Roth in performances in Hollywood, California. His electric cello rock instrumental H.A.N.D was a winner in the International Songwriting Competition of 2007.

Music education

Shulman studied cello with Amaryllis Fleming, Joan Dickson and William Pleeth. He received an 'Honorary RCM' from The Queen Mother in 1986, and subsequently became a professor at the Royal College of Music. He has given masterclasses in Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, the Ukraine, the USA, South America, the Far East and New Zealand.

After winning the New England Conservatory/Piatigorsky Artist Award in Boston, he returned to the USA to teach and give concerts. Now residing in Los Angeles, he has given masterclasses at The Corwin Awards, USC, UCLA and The Aspen Music Festival. He is a regular guest artist at the La Jolla Summerfest, Aspen, Las Vegas and Mainly Mozart summer music festivals, and last season recorded three new cello concertos written for him. These were written by Christopher Stone, Nathaniel Levisay and Maria Newman. He has premiered new sonatas and concertos by Broughton and Zigman and next season he premieres James Newton Howard's cello concerto with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.