Title/Position: Professor, Instrumental Performance and Program Director, Strings
Profile:
What would you say are the outstanding highlights of your professional life?
1. Winning the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition in New York
2. Performing in Carnegie Hall with the Bergonzi String Quartet
3. Performing the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Atlanta Symphony
4. Performing Tchaikovsky in Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow
5. Performing the Schubert Two Cello Quintet with Leonard Rose
What advice would you give an aspiring young musician?
Learn more than just how to play your instrument. Learn how to write effectively. Learn about art, history, science. Read more. The broadest understanding of who you are and the world around you will give the greatest depth to your musical interpretations.
Why did you choose music as your career?
I chose music as a career because the cello is my voice. If I wasn’t making music no one would hear what I have to say.
“Ross Harbaugh superbly projected Rodion Schedrin’s Russkie Naigrishy, a piece Rostropovitch commissioned for his competition in Paris. Its skittery technical demands are terrific, especially in the cello’s highest reaches. But Harbaugh sailed through the piece brilliantly.”—Miami Herald
“Ross Harbaugh is on the leading edge of a solo concert career, with thorough understanding of both his instrument and, to judge by Tuesday’s ingratiating performance, the music he plays on it.”—Atlanta Journal
As a founding member of the New World Quartet, Ross Harbaugh is a recipient of the prestigious Naumburg Prize as well as the Grand Prix du Disque, the premier French award for musical recordings.
Prof. Harbaugh has recorded for such labels as
Vox
MCI Classic
IMP Masters
CRI
Centaur
Fleur de Son
Musical Heritage
Moreover, he has appeared on recordings with Michael Jackson and Busta Rhymes.
Performing throughout Europe and the United States, he has appeared in concerts at the
Kennedy Center
Alice Tully Hall
Wigmore Hall in London
and has concertized with such artists as
Leonard Rose
Bill Preucil
Richard Goode
Jeffrey Kahane
Raphael Hillyer
Joel Krosnick
Jerome Rose
Gil Kalish
Guarneri Quartet
Soloist with the
Atlanta Symphony
Cincinnati Symphony
Toledo Symphony
Harbaugh is featured with orchestras nationally and frequently gives recitals. He has performed and taught in numerous summer festivals including
Cabrillo
Brevard
Interlochen
Madeline Island
Pine Mountain
Tanglewood
He has also taught at
Harvard University
University of Michigan
Interlochen
and has given master classes at Yale University and Brown University.
Prof. Harbaugh has authored numerous articles for American String Teacher and The Strad, and has appeared on National Public Radio.
He presents workshops in ensemble communication, “Tai Chi for Cello,” and gives cello workshops throughout the country at such venues as the Seventh American Cello Congress in Tempe, Arizona.
Listen to audio clips of Prof. Harbaugh’s performances.
1. Concerto in E Minor, Opus 85 by Edward Elgar; performed by Ross Harbaugh and the UM Symphony Orchestra.
2. Spanish Serenade by David Popper.
Short Biography:
Ross Harbaugh (violincello) is professor of instrumental performance and program director, Strings, at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where, in addition to teaching cello, he is the faculty mentor for the undergraduate Stamps String Quartet and works with graduate string quartets. Ross Harbaugh is cellist of the well-known American Bergonzi String Quartet. His distinguished teachers include Janos Starker, Leonard Rose, and Peter Howard in the United States and Andre Navarra at the Paris Conservatory, and chamber music study with the Juilliard Quartet. As a founding member of the New World Quartet he won the Naumburg Prize, a Prix du Disque, and recorded 14 records and CDs for Vox, MCI Classic and IMP Masters, CRI, Centaur, Fleur de Son, and Musical Heritage labels. Performing throughout Europe and the United States, he has appeared in concerts at the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, and Wigmore Hall in London, and has concertized with such artists as Leonard Rose, Bill Preucil, Richard Goode, Jeffrey Kahane, Raphael Hillyer, Joel Krosnick, Jerome Rose, Gil Kalish, and the Guarneri Quartet. Mr. Harbaugh served as a judge for the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the Stulberg Competition, and the Fulbright Competition for Graduate Music Study Abroad.
