Matthew Zalkind, Cello

Biography

American cellist Matthew Zalkind has performed extensively throughout the United States and abroad as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician.

Mr. Zalkind has won prizes in multiple international competitions, including top prizes in the Beijing International Cello Competition and the Isang Yun Gyeongnam International Competition.  Mr. Zalkind won first prize in the 2009 Juilliard School Competition, and consequently, he performed Tchaikovsky’s “Rococo Variations” with the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall under the baton of Ludovic Morlot. The New York Times praised the performance:

“Matthew Zalkind gave an elegant rendition of the work, playing with impressive refinement and eloquent phrasing. He illuminated the variations on the gracious melody with a singing tone and fine technique, and savored the good-natured dialogue with the orchestra.”

Mr. Zalkind has performed concerti with various orchestras, notably the Hongzhou Philharmonic in China, the Tongyeong International Music Festival Orchestra in Korea, the Utah Symphony, and the Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra in Santa Barbara, California.

An active chamber musician, Mr. Zalkind has participated in numerous music festivals, including Marlboro and Ravinia. He has collaborated in chamber music with Mitsuko Uchida, Menahem Pressler, Charles Neidich, Jonathan Biss, and members of the Guarneri String Quartet. He has performed chamber music in Alice Tully Hall and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Mr. Zalkind is a founding member of the West End Trio with violinist Emily Daggett Smith and pianist Michael Brown, and the trio debuted in Alice Tully Hall in April, 2010.

Mr. Zalkind has a strong interest in teaching and outreach. He was assistant faculty for two summers at the Meadowmount School of Music.  Mr. Zalkind was awarded a Gluck Community Service Fellowship at the Juilliard School for four years, performing concerts at treatment facilities throughout the five boroughs of New York City.

Mr. Zalkind, a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, began his studies with Richard Hoyt and Pegsoon Whang. He has also worked extensively with Hans Jensen, Ronald Leonard, and Alan Stepansky. Mr. Zalkind was accepted to the Juilliard School with Presidential Distinction as a student of Timothy Eddy and received his bachelor’s degree in 2008. He continued his graduate studies at Juilliard—where he was the recipient of the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship and the Rena Robbins Shapiro Memorial Scholarship in Cello—and earned his master’s degree in 2010.  Mr. Zalkind recently began doctoral work under the tutelage of Richard Aaron at the University of Michigan, where he received a three-year Rackham Merit Fellowship.