He is a cellist born in Corvallis, Oregon who took his musical studies with several teachers from Oregon and performed as a member of the Corvallis Youth Symphony while he attended high school.
Also during his high school years he gave solo performances with the Oregon Symphony and attended the Interlochen Arts Camp during his summer breaks.
After he left high school he went to take further studies for four years at the Cleveland Institute of Music. While a student there he became involved with the Blossom Music Festival as well as the ENCORE School of Strings, Ernest Bloch Composer’s Symposium, Fear No Music Ensemble and the Taos School of Music. He also performed as a cellist with the Canton Symphony Orchestra.
Relocating to New York after he graduated he entered the Mannes College of Music as a student of Timothy Eddy. While there he took parts in various music festivals devoted to the works of Bach, Chopin and Mozart and performed with the Baroque Chamber Players. After finishing his studies in New York he performed at the Spoleto Music Festival, spending the summer in Italy.
On his return to the United States he began performing on a freelance basis in Los Angeles. In 2001 he joined the Louisville Orchestra in Kentucky and two years after that became a member of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. At the same time he was the Louisville orchestra we was a performer with The American Sinfonietta and while with the Oregon Symphony he performed the Chimtimini Chamber Music Festival at Corvallis.
After performing with the Oregon Symphony for 5 years Adam accepted a position with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2008. After performing with them for two years he and another three cellists from the orchestra decided to form the Boston Cello Quartet and made their debut concert at Tanglewood in July 2010. The quartet’s debut CD was released in 2012.
Recordings he has performed on to date include Chris Botti: Live in Boston by the Boston Pops Orchestra, Chen Yi: Sound of the Five with the Third Angle New Music Ensemble and David York: Apollo & Hyacinth performed at Portland University.
Sources:
- http://www.nobleviola.com/2008/01/31/oso-cellist-wins-big-gig/
- http://www.orsymphony.org/orchestra/mm/0405/esbensen.aspx
- http://www.bostoncelloquartet.com/assets_d/30903/download_media/bcqbio_144.pdf
- http://www.americansinfonietta.org/ORCHhtmlBEL2002/EsbensenAdam.htm
- http://www.chintimini.org/musicians.php
- http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/albumList.jsp?name_id1=162993&name_role1=2&bcorder=2