Cellist Coleman Itzkoff is currently pursuing his Masters in Musical Performance at the USC Thornton School of Music, under the guidance of David Geringas and Ralph Kirshbaum. He earned his Bachelor of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he was a student of Desmond Hoebig. Mr. Itzkoff also teaches at the Los Angeles Children’s Orchestra.

An increasingly busy chamber music and recital schedule has brought him to the country’s major music festivals and competitions, among them Bowdoin, Music@Menlo, Sarasota Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival & School.

As a student of Indiana University Professor Eric Kim, Mr. Itzkoff was Principal Cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, and won that group’s Concerto Competition in both 2007 and 2009, appearing at Music Hall with the CSYO and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in concerti by Tchaikovsky and Haydn. He is a prize-winner at the Fischoff, Johansen, and Blount Slawson Competitions. He has twice been soloist with the Middletown Symphony, playing concerti of Brahms and Saint-Saens, has been guest soloist of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and made his debut with the Dayton Philharmonic at the gala opening of their 2009–2010 season, playing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations.

Mr. Itzkoff has enjoyed many successes and performances. In the summer of 2011, he performed Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor with the Aspen Concert Orchestra after winning the Aspen Music Festival & School’s low-strings competition. In 2012, Mr. Itzkoff represented the Shepherd School at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., performing Kodaly’s solo Cello Sonata. Later that year he took home both the Gold Medal in the String Division as well as the overall Entergy Grand Prize at Young Texas Artists Competition.

While still an undergraduate, Mr. Itzkoff was invited to take a weeklong artist residency with NPR’s Performance Today with host Fred Child, recording interviews and a full recital program. The performances aired on NPR and can be found online for free download at:
http://www.yourclassical.org/story/2013/02/25/coleman_itzkoff-yar