Colin Carr appears throughout the world as soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and teacher. He has played with major orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Philadelphia, Montreal, and all the major orchestras of Australia and New Zealand. He is a regular guest at the BBC Proms.
Recitals take Mr. Carr to major cities each season, with regular performances in London, New York, and Boston. In 2007-2008, he will play cycles of Beethoven’s Complete Works for Violoncello and Piano in New York, Salt Lake City, and Oxford (England), in addition to these appearances for Princeton University Concerts.
As a member of the Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio, he toured and recorded extensively for 20 years, with frequent appearances in this series. He is a regular visitor to international chamber music festivals worldwide, and has often appeared as a guest with the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets, and with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Colin Carr’s recordings of the unaccompanied ’cello works of Kodály, Britten, Crumb, and Schuller, as well as those of the Bach Suites, are highly acclaimed. The Brahms Sonatas on Arabesque, with pianist Lee Luvisi, is also a favorite. Mr. Carr was the soloist in Elgar’s ’Cello Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic for a BBC Music Magazine recording.
Mr Carr first played the ’cello at the age of five. Three years later, he went to the Yehudi Menuhin School, where he studied with Maurice Gendron and later with William Pleeth. He was appointed a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in 1998, having served the faculty of the New England Conservatory for some sixteen years. In 1998, St. John’s College, Oxford, created the post of “Musician in Residence” for him. In September 2002, he became Professor at The University of New York at Stony Brook.
Pianist Thomas Sauer is highly sought after as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. He is a member of the Mannes Trio, ensemble-in-residence at the Mannes College of Music in New York City.
Recent appearances include concerto performances with the Quad-City Symphony; solo performances at Merkin Concert Hall, St. John’s College, Oxford (England), and the Garden City Chamber Music Society.
As collaborative artist, he appears frequently with Midori, most recently at the Philharmonie (Berlin) and the Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels). With Colin Carr, he has appeared at the Holywell Music Room (Oxford), and the Wolf Trap Center. At the Library of Congress, he performed with members of The Juilliard String Quartet, and frequently appears with the Brentano String Quartet. Festival performances include those at the Marlboro, Portland, Seattle, El Paso Pro Musica, Four Seasons, and Salt Bay Chamber Music Festivals.
His discography includes a recording of five Haydn Sonatas (MSR Classics); Hindemith Sonatas with violist Misha Amory (Musical Heritage Society); music of Ross Lee Finney with violinist Miranda Cuckson (Centaur Records); and music of Britten and Schnittke with ’cellist Wilhelmina Smith (Arabesque). He also appears on discs issued by the Seattle, Portland, and Salt Bay Chamber Music Festivals.
Mr. Sauer holds degrees from The Curtis Institute, the Mannes College of Music, and the City University of New York. His major teachers include Jorge Bolet, Edward Aldwell, and Carl Schachter. He is a member of the music faculty at Vassar College, and at Mannes College, where he is the founder and director of the Mannes Beethoven Institute, and was a founder of Chamber Music Quad Cities, based in his home town of Davenport, Iowa.