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 Nicholas
Gold, cellist, is 21 year old music major at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst. Originally from
Huntsville, Alabama, he started his studies on the
piano at the age of four and moved on to the cello
when he turned ten.
Nicholas has been very active in the southeastern
United States classical music where he has had the
opportunity to play in many venues and ensembles. He
has been very active and held positions with the
Huntsville Opera Theater, Huntsville Symphony,
Shoals Symphony at the University of Alabama, Opera
South, and many other ensembles. In addition, he has
been the winner of competitions and awards
throughout the South and in New England United
States. They include: University of Massachusetts
concerto competition, Huntsville Symphony young
artists competition, McCroy Scholarship, Huntsville
Youth Orchestra Competition, Ruth Cole Webber
Scholarship, and he was the 2004 Brevard Music
Center Outstanding Artist.
Presently, Nicholas is honored with the title “Deans
Scholar” at the University Massachusetts. The dean
created his scholarship in order for Nicholas to
attend the University. In addition, he was also
awarded the Chancellors “Talent Award.” Recently,
Nicholas won the Alabama and Southern Young Artist
college division in the Music Teachers National
Association string solo competition. In April, he
performed at the Colorado Convention Center in
Denver, Co, for the MTNA national convention. The
prestigious competition and association has a member
total of 24,000 active teachers who send students to
the competition. This past year, he has toured from
coast to coast. He has had performances playing the
Schumann Cello Concerto with the University of
Massachusetts Orchestra.
He has also played in Michigan at the Interlochen
Center for the Arts. Recently, he had performances
with the Amherst College Orchestra in San Francisco
and Palo Alto. And last spring, Nicholas went to
Washington D.C. and performed Schubert’s Cello
Quintet with the renowned Lark String Quartet.
Nicholas has spent many of his summers at many
different music festivals such as Kent/Blossom Music
Center, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Brevard Music
Festival and Eastern Music Festival. He has been
principal cellist every at every festival. From
1999-2004 he was principal cellist of Alabama’s
All-State Orchestra. When he attended Kent/Blossom
Music Festival he had the opportunity to perform
with the Cleveland Orchestra. The same summer he was
heard with the Kent/Blossom chamber orchestra as a
soloist with James Buswell and Ellen DePasquale.
“The solo’s of Nicholas Gold, cello, continues to
show how much the Kent/Blossom light shines”
–Cleveland Plain Dealer. Nicholas has had the
opportunity to work with many outstanding cellists
and conductors during his career. Currently he is
studying with Astrid Schween, cellist of the
renowned Lark Quartet, at UMass Amherst. Other
cellists have included Carlton McCreery, Bernard
Greenhouse, Richard Weiss, and Stephen Geber. He has
played under the direction of great conductors such
as Keith Lockhard, David Effron, Victor Yampolsky,
and Steven Smith. In 2005, Nicholas joined the
faculty of the Community Music School of Springfield
and joined the faculty of Northampton Community
Music Center in 2006. He resigned from the schools
in 2007 to focus more on performing but still has a
teaching studio in Amherst. During the school year
Nicholas coaches and plays with the Amherst College
cello section. Nicholas plays on a fine instrument
generously loaned to him from the Carlsen Cello
Foundation. |
