Cello
String Family
You’ll notice right away that the cello is much larger than the violin and viola. In fact, it’s so large that you have to sit down to play it! The cello has quite a wide pitch range, from warm, low notes to rich, high notes. The body of the cello sits between your knees, and the neck of the cello goes in front of your left shoulder. Your left hand presses down on the strings to change the pitch, and your right hand moves the bow or plucks the strings. The cello touches the ground, supported by a metal peg called the endpin. The cello has four strings tuned a fifth apart, and from highest to lowest, they are: A, D, G, and C. The string names may be the same as the viola, but they sound one octave lower.
Artists
Anthony Ross
Principal Cello, John and Elizabeth Bates Cowles Chair
Silver Ainomäe
Associate Principal Cello, John and Barbara Sibley Boatwright Chair
Beth Rapier
Assistant Principal Cello, Marion E. Cross Chair
Minji Choi
Cello
Katja Linfield
Cello
Sonia Mantell
Cello
Marcia Peck
Cello
Pitnarry Shin
Cello
Arek Tesarczyk
Cello
Erik Wheeler
Cello
Principal Cello Anthony Ross joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1988 and assumed the principal cello post in 1991. He has been a soloist many times with the Orchestra, performing concertos by Schumann, Dvořák, Victor Herbert, James MacMillan, Beethoven, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, Bloch and Shostakovich, as well as many chamber works. He was most recently featured as soloist in November 2018 performing Shostakovich's Second Cello Concerto.
In recent seasons Ross has performed Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante for Cello and Orchestra, the Walton Cello Concerto and the Brahms Double Concerto, the latter alongside former First Associate Concertmaster Sarah Kwak. In April 2014 he was soloist in performances of Eric Whitacre’s The River Cam, with the composer conducting. At Sommerfest 2014 he performed Prokofiev’s Sonata for Cello and Piano with Sommerfest Artistic Director Andrew Litton.