Dear Thornton Community,
USC Thornton is introducing a number of exceptional new faculty members to the school this semester, and I’d like to introduce acclaimed cellist Dr. Seth Parker Woods who joins the faculty as an assistant professor of practice, string chamber music and cello.
A recipient of the 2022 Chamber Music America Michael Jaffee Visionary Award and hailed by The Guardian as “a cellist of power and grace” who possesses “mature artistry and willingness to go to the brink,” Woods will direct the Thornton Strings Department’s chamber music program while teaching cello.
Woods’ 2021-22 season includes debuts at the Aspen Music Festival, The Britt Festival, 92nd Street Y, Harbourfront Theatre, Chamber Music Society of Virginia, Ojai Festival, Washington Performing Arts, The Strathmore, The Weisman Art Museum and Harvard.
He is currently serving as an artist-in-residence at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Northwestern University’s Center for New Music, and he is a faculty member at the University at Buffalo as a distinguished visiting scholar and visiting professor. He previously served on the music faculties of the University of Chicago, Dartmouth College and the Chicago Academy of the Arts.
I am thrilled to introduce him as a faculty member at USC Thornton. Please join me in welcoming such an esteemed artist to the Thornton School.
Regards,
Rob Cutietta
Dean, USC Thornton School of Music