Laura Metcalf
Cellist Laura Metcalf, noted for her "gorgeous cello legatos" (Washington Post) and her “brilliant” playing (Gramophone Magazine) is known for her compelling solo and chamber music performances worldwide and in her home of New York City. Her debut solo album, "First Day" was released in April 2016 on the Grammy-winning Sono Luminus label and debuted at #7 on the Billboard classical chart. The album has been praised as "a flat-out winner" (Greg Hettmansberger, Madison Magazine) and "rich and rewarding," (an earful), and prompted multiple critics to hail her as a "major talent." She is the cellist of acclaimed string quintet Sybarite5 who won the 2011 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, and has performed sold-out concerts at the Library of Congress, Lincoln Center and many other venues worldwide. Sybarite5 made its Carnegie Hall debut at Zankel Hall in 2012, and their album “Disturb the Silence” recently reached the Top Ten on the Billboard Charts. The quintet gave the world premiere of Dan Visconti's concerto for string quintet and orchestra with a consortium of American orchestras in 2015. The quintet has performed at the Ravinia, Caramoor, Chautauqua, Aspen and Grand Teton Music festivals. She has been featured as a soloist with the Zagreb Philharmonic, One World Symphony , Laredo Philharmonic, the Ensemble 212 Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa, and has repeatedly been invited to perform with renowned international artists at the Newport Music Festival. She has given concerts in nearly all 50 states, as well as Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Haiti, France, Kazakhstan. Nepal, India, Germany, United Kingdom, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Austria, and Canada.
In 2011, Laura was appointed to the cello-percussion quartet Break of Reality, with whom she has toured extensively worldwide, most recently being presented by the Eastman School of Music at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, NY, the Austin Chamber Music Festival, the Victoria Bach Festival, and in Haiti and Kazakhstan by the US State Department. Their albums routinely sell in the tens of thousands worldwide, and they recently premiered an original concerto featuring the group as soloists with the Laredo Philharmonic. Laura performs regularly as a duo with renowned classical guitarist Rupert Boyd, with whom she has toured to Australia, India and Nepal. Laura was appointed to the Malek Jandali trio in 2015, a trio with piano, cello and oud dedicated to new music and humanitatian causes. The ensemble has performed twice in Carnegie Hall , has toured to the United Arab Emirates., and has been featured in National Geographic and BBC World News.
Laura was the founder of the Ansonia Trio, who won the Grand Prize in the 2009 Rutenberg Competition at the University of South Florida The trio was praised for its "tremendous musical range" and "consummate skill." Prior to the Ansonia Trio she was a member of the Stella Piano Trio, who were the top-ranked North American Ensemble in the 2007 ARD Munich Competition and won the Artists International auditions. As a former member of Ten O'Clock Classics, a four-piece collective of soloists committed to performance and outreach, she toured to 27 cities nationwide in 2010. She has also been a member of the Tarab Cello Ensemble, a group of 8 cellists with whom she has performed in the U.S. and Mexico. She has performed chamber music in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, (le) poisson rouge, National Sawdust, the Chateau de Fontainebleau in France, the French Consulate of New York, Kaufman Hall at the 92nd St. Y, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Bruno Walter Auditorium, and many other venues.
Laura is a regular visitor to the IMS Prussia Cove in Cornwall, England, where she is routinely invited to take part in the Open Chamber Music Seminar. Other festival appearances include the Aspen, Taos and Sarasota Music Festivals, the London Masterclasses, and the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau (France).
Outside of the classical realm, Laura has appeared on the David Letterman Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the Today Show and The View with such artists as Adele, John Legend, Donna Summer, Clay Aiken, Chromeo and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. She has performed numerous times at the South by Southwest Rock Festival and the US Open Tennis Tournament, has performed at and recorded music for New York Fashion Week, and performed with DJ Spooky , and at the international conference of The Economist magazine hosted by Alec Baldwin. She appeares regularly with acclaimed Irish singer and composer Julie Feeney , both playing cello and singing backup vocals. She also appeared in Jonahhesburg, South Africa, as part of a chamber ensemble performing with rap legend Nas.
Laura received her Master of Music degree in 2006 from the Mannes College of Music, where she was awarded the James E. Hughes award for excellence in performance. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University's College of Fine Arts, where, as recipient of the prestigious Trustee Scholarship, she won the BU Solo Bach Competition. Her teachers and mentors include Timothy Eddy, Ralph Kirshbaum, Darrett Adkins and Mike Reynolds.
A devoted educator, Laura has given career-guidance presentations at the Eastman School of Music, the Hartt School of Music and Oklahoma State University. She served on the faculty of Opus 118 Harlem School of Music from 2006-2011, through which she also founded the first-ever cello program in New York’s Public School 129, and is currently a private cello teacher and chamber music coach for students of all ages as well as a faculty member of the New York Summer Music Festival. Laura is frequently engaged by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for outreach performance work in public schools in the New York area.
