He
is a cellist and teacher born in Altadena, California, to a musical family
with his father playing the viola on a non-professional basis.He began his musical studies from
the time he was six years old with the University of Southern California's
Professor of Cello, Eleanore Schoenfeld and when he was 13 he attended the
university's newly established Institute for Special Music Studies where he
would study cello and chamber music with teachers such as William Primrose
and Jascha Heifetz.He was a
co-founder and principal cellist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and
after his graduation he was the assistant to one of his teachers, Gregor
Piatigorsky, for five years.In 1977 he became the Principal Cellist for the Pittsburgh Symphony
Orchestra and went on to win acclaimed competitions such as the Naumberg
Competition for Cello and the International Tchaikovsky Competition, where
he is still the only cellist to win the first prize.This would lead him to gaining much
recognition in classical music circles and he has since given many solo
recitals all over the world as well as appearing at many chamber music
festivals and with orchestras such as the New York,
Los Angeles, Dresden
and Czech Philharmonics, the Philadelphia
Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewendhaus Orchestra and the London
Symphony Orchestra . Making several recordings since becoming
acquainted with Johnny Marks, he can be heard on albums such as Orientale,
Rejoice: A String Quartet Christmas: Volume 2, Glazunov: Five Novelettes and
String Quintet in A Minor, Rosen Plays Bach, Nathaniel Rosen Plays
Tchaikovsky & Shostakovich, Bach: Cello Suites and Reverie:
Romantic Music for Quiet Times. As a teacher he has been on the faculty
of the University of Illinois and the Manhattan School of Music as well as
having associations with the New Hampshire and Southern Methodist
University in Dallas, Texas and the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts.
