• Admission
  • Student Life
  • Photo of mass cello ensemble in Disney Hall with white logo

    Cellists Everywhere

    By Jeremy Pepper

    Photo of mass cello ensemble in Disney Hall with white logo

    Starting March 13, the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival brings the world’s leading cellists back to USC.


    The cellists are coming. Beginning on March 13, the 2020 Piatigorsky International Cello Festival will bring the world’s leading cellists back to USC. The third iteration of this unparalleled, 10-day, 42-event festival runs from March 13-22, 2020.

    Noted by The New York Times as a classical season highlight, the Festival features ten days of events on the USC University Park campus culminating in a weekend of performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

    Photo of cellist Li-Wei Qin performing on stage

    Acclaimed cellist Li-Wei Qin performing Gulda’s Concerto for Cello and Wind Orchestra at USC Bovard Auditorium on Thursday, May 19 during the 2016 Piatigorsky International Cello Festival.

    “We are thrilled to host the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival for the third time in partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic,” said Robert Cutietta, dean of USC Thornton School of Music. “Los Angeles is such a vibrant city for classical music. By being the host of the Festival, we are able to showcase the city as well as the university campus and community to an international audience.”

    Highlights include two concerts on Sun., March 22 that feature two world premieres: an LA Phil commission by USC Thornton doctoral student Julia Adolphe for cellist Ralph Kirshbaum, chair of the Strings department at USC Thornton, Gregor Piatigosrky chair in violoncello, and the artistic director of the Festival; and the world premiere of a New Music USA Commission for SAKURA Cello Quintet, Carving an Alphabet, by USC Thornton faculty member Donald Crockett. The final performance of the Festival features the Mass Cello Ensemble, over one hundred cellists on the Disney Hall stage in performances of Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No.5 and Bach’s Air.

    “Together with the invaluable support of the community, and of course the vision and enthusiastic participation of our visiting artists, we have created an event and Festival that has impacted and continues to inspire and touch the lives of generations of young musicians around the world,” said Kirshbaum. “I greatly appreciate two great institutions, the USC Thornton School of Music and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, for their continued full-hearted support of this far reaching enterprise.”

    View highlights from the 2016 festival

    Cellist David Geringas presented a master class at USC’s Alfred Newman Recital Hall on May 21st. (Photo by Daniel Anderson/USC)

    Tickets to each Piatigorsky International Cello Festival event are now available for purchase by calling the USC Thornton Ticket Office at 213.740.4672 or clicking here. For more information, please visit: piatigorskyfestival.usc.edu

    TAGS: Chamber Music, Classical Performance and Composition, Strings,

    Never miss a story

    Subscribe to USC Thornton’s e-newsletter

    Subscribe