Yosif Feigelson

Josef Feigelson (also: Yosif Feigelson, born June 14, 1954 in Riga) is a Latvian cellist.

Feigelson comes from the Latvian capital Riga. At the age of six years was a native of a family of musicians cellist - the mother was a violinist in the symphony orchestra, the father tenor at the Opera House - his teaching by Don Jaffe. At the age of 12 he played Schumann's Cello Concerto. At age 16, he won the Prague competition, which enabled him concertos with the Prague Orchestra and led to studies with Mstislav Rostropovich. After his expulsion Natalia Gutman was his teacher. There were other prizes at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1974) and the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig (1976). He has performed throughout Russia and Eastern Europe, as in the Prague Dvoraksaal, in the Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and at the Staatsoper Berlin.

1981 Josef Feigelson emigrated to America and played since 1987 with many famous orchestras in Pittsburgh, Detroit, New York and Seattle. He was also a soloist at Avery Fisher Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, Symphony Hall in Chicago, as well as in Boston, Philadelphia and New Orleans. In 1990 he was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize for outstanding instrumentalists. His resulting 1996 live recording of the Dvorak concerto was sent by radio stations around the world. In Europe he has performed at the Schleswig- Holstein Music Festival, the Handel Festival, at the Berlin Biennale, the Tuscany Festival and the Music Meeting in St. Moritz and gave many concerts in Central Europe -wide, the Baltic States and in Israel.

Also as director of several master classes Feigelson promotes young artists.