LCCC’S SIGNATURE SERIES TO HOST CELLIST ROBERT DEMAINE
American virtuoso cellist Robert deMaine will perform a free concert at 7:30 p.m., Monday, September 24 at Lorain County Community College’s Stocker Arts Center.
deMaine’s performance is part of the Signature Series and is hosted by composer and LCCC Distinguished Professor Jeffrey Mumford. The concert is sponsored by LCCC’s arts and humanities division. Admission is free.
deMaine has distinguished himself as one of the finest and versatile musicians of his generation, having performed worldwide to critical acclaim. A first-prizewinner in many national and international competitions, in 1990 deMaine became the first cellist ever to win the grand prize at San Francisco's Irving M. Klein International Competition for Strings. As soloist, he has collaborated with conductors Neeme Jarvi, Peter Oundjian, Joseph Silverstein, and Leonard Slatkin, among many others, and has performed virtually all of the major cello concerto repertoire with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where he has been Principal Cellist since 2002. deMaine has also served as a guest principal in the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Norway).
Robert deMaine counts among his chamber-music partners violinists James Ehnes, Hilary Hahn, Ani and Ida Kavafian, pianists Andrew Armstrong, Orion Weiss, and Yefim Bronfman, and has appeared at many international music festivals, including those of Marlboro, Aspen, Heidelberg, San Miguel de Allende, Montreal, and Seattle. He is also the cellist of four newly-established chamber groups: The Chroma Piano Trio, Trio21, Icarus (Flute, Cello, Piano), and the Ehnes Quartet.
A dedicated teacher, deMaine has presented master classes throughout the U.S. and abroad, and is a regular guest of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach and the National Orchestral Institute at the University of Maryland. He has also taught at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan.
Also a composer, deMaine has written many works for the cello, including “Twelve Etudes-Caprices,” which he performs regularly. Several important composers have written large-scale works for him, including Chris Theofanidis, Joel Eric Suben, and Kenneth Fuchs.
Soon to be released are two recordings by deMaine on the Sono Luminus label: a recital disc featuring works by Rachmaninov, Faure, and Grieg with the pianist Andrew Armstrong, and the Haydn Cello Concertos with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra. Soon thereafter, his recording of John Williams' Cello Concerto with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin will also be available on Naxos.
Of French-Canadian and Polish heritage, deMaine makes his home in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, with his wife, Elizabeth, and two children, Paul and Annette.
For more information, visit www.stockerartscenter.com and click on “Arts and Humanities” on the left side of the page.