Natasha Farny, Cello

Biography

American cellist Natasha Farny has been described as an eloquent performer whose "vibrant legatos" and "long lines have beauty and strength" (Buffalo News).  She has performed as soloist with orchestras that include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Greeley Symphony Orchestra, The Abilene Philharmonic, The Erie Chamber Orchestra, and the Western New York Chamber Orchestra.  While a student at Juilliard, Natasha Farny performed Henri Dutilleux's concerto "Toute un Monde Lointain" with the Juilliard Symphony and conductor, Robert Spano, and also gave the premiere of Norwegian composer Olav Anton Thommessen's concerto with the New Juilliard Ensemble.  Dr. Farny has given sonata recitals in Leipzig's Mendelssohn Haus, live on public radio in Chicago and in Rochester, NY , and in venues across the American northeast and midwest.  She has also participated in numerous music festivals around the world including the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove, England, The Banff Summer Master Classes, the Kronberg Cello Festival (Germany), the Schleswig Holstein Festival Master Classes, the Leipzig Internationales Kammermusikfestival, the Bay View Music Festival (MI), the Artur Balsam Chamber Music Festival (IN), and the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival. 

As a chamber musician, Natasha Farny enjoys exploring a varying spectrum of programs, some of which showcase single composers such as Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, as well as 20th Century works from Britten to Ligeti and Saariaho.  Natasha Farny has enlarged her sights to include the study and performance of the cello theremin, with which she will appear in European venues with the Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble.  She has appeared in recital at Baylor University, Oberlin College, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the University of Ohio, Hunter College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Oklahoma, and the Golandsky Institute in Princeton, NJ.  During the summers, she is a performer and teacher at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee. 

Dr. Farny enjoys teaching all levels and is sought after for her enthusiastic style in master classes.   She has also given masterclasses and recitals at numerous American universities from Florida to Texas. Currently Dr. Farny teaches cello at the State University of New York at Fredonia.

After pursuing undergraduate studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and Yale University, Natasha Farny earned a master of music degree at the Eastman School of Music and a doctorate of musical arts degree at the Juilliard School.  After her studies at Juilliard, she spent a year in Leipzig, Germany studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy," under a fully-funded stipend from Citibank.   In addition to her doctoral work with advisor Maynard Solomon on a monograph of the Beethoven C Major cello sonata, she studied with such luminaries as Ronald Feldman, Orlando Cole, Stephen Doane, Joel Krosnick, and Harvey Shapiro.