A native of California, cellist SCOTT KLUKSDAHL made his debut with The San Francisco Symphony, and has been heard since as orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician in major metropolitan centers throughout the United States, Europe, Israel and Latin America.

In addition to The San Francisco Symphony, Scott Kluksdahl has appeared as guest soloist with The Boston Pops and the orchestras of Asheville, Bozeman, Kalispell, Marin, Omaha, Richmond (IN), Tampa Bay, Westerville (OH) and Wyoming, as well as Bulgaria’s Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Colombia’s Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá. He gave the premiere performances of Augusta Read Thomas’ Passion Prayers with the Chicago Contemporary Players and the Philadelphia Network for New Music, with whom he subsequently recorded the work, performed Ralph Shapey’s Double Concerto for Cello, Piano and Orchestra with Florence Millet at the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards, and presented the world premiere of James Lewis’ Doubles Singles Variables. Israel’s Hed Music Center featured Mr. Kluksdahl in premieres of Hanoch Jacoby’s King David’s Lyre, Oedeon Partos’ Yzkor and Mourning Music and Tzvi Avni’s Khaddish, all for cello and orchestra.

As a recitalist, Scott Kluksdahl has been heard throughout the United States, including the major musical centers of New York City, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, DC. He possesses a special affinity for the unaccompanied cello repertory spanning four centuries, and, following a daring unaccompanied program at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City, Strings magazine identified him as “a simply superb cellist, playing with consummate technical ease, a beautiful sound, total conviction, authority and dedication to the music.” Mr. Kluksdahl received national attention for his celebrated presentation of the complete Cello Suites of Bach at the Oregon Bach Festival, and he has performed the complete six-suite cycle in venues that include New York City’s St. Bartholomew’s Church, Philadelphia Bach Festival, San Francisco Theological Seminary and Tampa Bay’s historic Springs Theatre.

Scott Kluksdahl is widely esteemed as an ardent advocate of the music of our own time, and he continues to commission, premiere and record works from a widening spectrum of composers, including Elliott Carter, Robert Helps, Bernard Rands, Augusta Read Thomas, David del Tredici and Richard Wernick. Recent cutting-edge recordings - “Lines for Solo Cello” (CRI) and American Piano Trios (Centaur) - have garnered widespread acclaim. Mr. Kluksdahl’s latest CD, “Sound Vessels” (Centaur), features cello-piano works of Elliott Carter, Robert Helps, Augusta Read Thomas and Richard Wernick.

The recipient of the Tanglewood Music Center’s Leonard Bernstein Fellowship and prizes in the 1990 Walter W. Naumburg International Cello Competition and the Washington International Competition, Scott Kluksdahl holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and American literature from Harvard University and a Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School. His principal teachers were Margaret Rowell, Joel Krosnick, William Pleeth and Leonard Rose.

A dedicated teacher, himself, Scott Kluksdahl is the Theodore and Venette Askounes-Ashford Distinguished Scholar at the University of South Florida and also serves on the faculties of Vermont’s Killington Music Festival and California Summer Music. He has been an invited soloist and guest faculty member at Indiana University and, with the Lions Gate Trio, was in residence at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford. Mr. Kluksdahl’s commitment to teaching prompted renowned cellist Zara Nelsova to remark, “It is rare to find a cellist who is equally at home as a concert artist as well as a great pedagogue. In my opinion Scott Kluksdahl has one of the great talents of his generation.”

BARBER
Concerto, Op. 22 (1946)
BEETHOVEN
Concerto in C, Op. 56 (“Triple”)
BLOCH
Schelomo (1918)
BOCCHERINI
Concerto in D
BOCCHERINI/Gruetzmacher
Concerto in B-flat
BOULEZ
Messagesquisse for Solo Cello & 6 Celli (1976)
BRAHMS
Concerto in a, Op. 102 (“Double”)
BRITTEN
Cello Symphony, Op. 68
BRUCH
Kol Nidrei
DVORÁK
Concerto in b, Op. 104
ELGAR
Concerto in e, Op. 85
FAURÉ
Elégie, Op. 24
GRUBER, H.K.
Cello Concerto (1989)
HAYDN
Concerto #1 in C
Concerto #2 in D
HEGGIE, Jake
Cello Concerto (“Holy the Firm”)
HERBERT
Concerto #2, Op. 30
IBERT
Concerto for Cello & Wind Orchestra (1925)
KABALEVSKY
Concerto #1 in g, Op. 49
LALO
Concerto in d
PROKOFIEV
Symphony-Concerto, Op. 125
SAINT-SAËNS
Concerto #1 in a, Op. 33
SCHUMANN
Concerto in a, Op. 129
SHOSTAKOVICH
Concerto #1 in E-flat, Op. 107
Concerto #2, Op. 126
STRAUSS
Don Quixote, Op. 35
TAN DUN
Elegy: Snow in June for Cello & Percussion (1991)
TAVENER, John
Wake Up.....And Die for Cello & Cello Orchestra (1995)
TCHAIKOVSKY
Pezzo capriccioso, Op. 62
Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33
THOMAS, Augusta Read
Passion Prayers, Concertino for Cello & Ensemble (1999)
Ritual Incantations for Cello & Orchestra (1999)
Vigil for Cello & Orchestra (1990)
TÜÜR, Erkki-Sven
Cello Concerto (1996)
VIVALDI
Concerto in g for 2 Celli
WERNICK, Richard
Cello Concerto for Cello & Ten Players (1980)

“FOR SOLO CELLO”
Wernick: Candenzas and Variations III
Thomas: Spring Song
Shapey: Krosnick Soli
Brodhead: Lament
Schuller: Fantasia
Martno: Parisonatina Al’Dodecafonia
CRI: CD 762

"Many recent New York concerts were distinguished by high virtuosity and by adventurous, imaginative programs. Cellist Scott Kluksdahl presented one of the most daring at weill Recital Hall, consisting of works by living composers, mostly for unaccompanied cello. Kluksdahl was simply superb throughout, playing with consummate technical ease, a beautiful sound, tonal conviction, authority, and dedication to the music."
STRINGS

"A fierce advocate for new music made his case at the Phillips Collection. Cellist Scott Kluksdahl gave an interesting and engaging recital of rarely heard modern works. Benjamin Britten’s Sonata in C, Op. 65, a Kluksdahl special, and he traversed this rich score with manifest forethought and vigor."
THE WASHINGTON POST

"The most impressive and enjoyable of three recitals I attended this past weekend was when the Bach Festival of Philadelphia presented Scott Kluksdahl in that Mount Everest of programs, the six unaccompanied cello suites by J.S. Bach. A large audience was on hand to hear the young man accept and achieve this mighty challenge, thrilled by two-and-one-half hours of music-making."
CHESTNUT HILL COURIER (Philadelphia)

"[Ernst Bacon’s] A Life is a work for cello and piano that is a portrait of another of the composer’s children. The suite has music writen in celebration of his birth as well as music of tribute composed after his death. There was a noble, eloquent, charming, large-hearted, and utterly unsentimental performance to match the plain-spoken qualities of the music from Scott Kluksdahl. This is one of the great works for cello."
THE BOSTON GLOBE

"The first half of the evening aimed to show off the talents of festival artist-in-residence, cellist Scott Kluksdahl. It did. Kluksdahl delivered every bit of the power and tortured romantic yearning of this monumental Rachmaninoff Sonata. The rendition seemed to grow in insight and ease as it progressed. The best playing came in the finale, which is fortuitous, considering that the composer concentrated his finest melodies and most exciting climaxes here."
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

"KLUKSDAHL’S CELLO RECITAL IS FIRST-RATE [headline]
Kluksdahl is no dry academic. He is a virtuoso artist who can bring music to life. Moreover, his playing expresses the joy in making music - an aspect of the art that is too often lost in the shuffle."
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

"There were times during Scott Kluksdahl’s recital when his cello seemed to be playing him, rather than vice versa. That’s the way it is when a fine musician is at the top of his form, drawing inspiration from somewhere inside the music."
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES