Our Amazing Cello/Theory Professor

May 14, 2006 at 8:24 PM

Here's on more for you, this is our cello Professor Dr. Eric Kutz playing some Shostakovich for your delight. I think you should read his bio as well.

Kutz, Eric
Title: Assistant Professor of Music
Office:Jenson-Noble 161 Phone:+1.563.387.1220 Email:kutzer01@luther.edu
Degree:D.M.A., The Juilliard School Interests:Cello, string methods, theory

Cellist Eric Kutz has captivated audiences throughout both North America and Europe. Since 1996, Mr. Kutz has been a member of the Murasaki Duo, a cello/piano ensemble, with acclaimed Canadian pianist Miko Kominami. Hailed by the Danbury News-Times as “perfect throughout the evening … two highly gifted musicians,” the Duo has performed throughout North America and Scandinavia, including concerts in New York City, Chicago, Toronto, Copenhagen, and Oslo, and it has won recognition as one of the leading ensembles of its genre. Advocates for new music, it actively commissions new works, in addition to performing the classics. The Duo recently released its debut compact disc—featuring works of Beethoven, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff—on the Centaur Records label.

The Duo has been a part of leading festivals, such as the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival, the Icicle Creek Music Center, and Lutheran Summer Music, and it has repeatedly been broadcast on Iowa Public Radio’s program, “Know the Score.” It regularly performs on chamber music series throughout the nation. The Murasaki Duo is Ensemble-in-Residence at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa.

For four years Mr. Kutz was the cellist of the Chester String Quartet, praised by the Boston Globe as “one of the best and brightest of the country’s young string quartets.” Mr. Kutz performed over 100 concerts during his tenure with the Quartet, and with them he gave concert tours of Switzerland, England, and Canada. The Quartet was in residence at Indiana University South Bend, and Mr. Kutz may be heard with them on the Crystal Records label.

In 1997 Mr. Kutz traveled to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow as a visiting artist, performing new chamber works by American composers. Other performance highlights include a tour of Germany and a concert in New York’s Avery Fisher Hall as part of Lincoln Center’s Mozart Bicentennial celebration. Mr. Kutz has premiered over two-dozen works, and has been broadcast live on WQXR and WNYC, both of New York City, as well as nationally on PBS television’s Live from Lincoln Center.

Active also as an orchestral musician, Mr. Kutz appeared in the section of the New York Philharmonic and is currently a member of the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago. He has been the principal cellist of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and the Juilliard Orchestra, and has performed under the batons of such conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Kurt Masur, and Seiji Ozawa.

Mr. Kutz received his Bachelor of Music Degree magna cum laude from Rice University, where he studied with Norman Fischer. His Master’s and Doctoral degrees are from the Juilliard School in New York, where he was a scholarship student of Joel Krosnick. He is presently Assistant Professor of Music at Luther College. He performs on a cello by Raffaele Fiorini (Bologna, 1877).

There is also a sound link to hear Dr. Kutz and his amazing pianist wife Miko Kominami, both professors at Luther: http://music.luther.edu/faculty/kutz_eric.html. It's at the very bottom of the Bio.

From parmeeta bhogal
Posted on May 15, 2006 at 2:49 PM

Andrew,
When are you going to be in Vienna? Am going there myself this summer, so just wondering if it would coincide to see your orchestra

From Andrew Paa
Posted on May 15, 2006 at 5:55 PM

We don't go to Vienna until January of 2007.

From parmeeta bhogal
Posted on May 16, 2006 at 6:34 PM

It was the off chance really as I am going to be there in August but it would have been nice to catch a v.com member playing...and to root for them!

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