Coleman Itzkoff

Cellist Coleman Itzkoff is a versatile figure at home in music of various eras and styles, including many contemporary works. He is also an educator and has a strong commitment to musical outreach. Itzkoff was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1992. His family was musical, and he took up the cello at age four. Itzkoff attended Rice University in Texas, earning a bachelor's degree. He went on to the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, studying with Ralph Kirshbaum and earning a master's degree. Moving to New York and enrolling in the Artist Diploma program at the Juilliard School, Itzkoff studied with Timothy Eddy and Richard Aaron, and he also took Baroque cello classes with Phoebe Carrai. He is one of the few American musicians conversant with both conventional and historically oriented cello performance. In 2013, Itzkoff made his recording debut on an album, Returning Souls, by cellist Shih-Hui Chen. Itzkoff has appeared as a soloist with leading American orchestras such as the San Diego Symphony, the Houston Symphony, and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. He is in demand at festivals and arts venues such as the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in upstate New York, the La Jolla Summer Fest in California, and the Marlboro Music Festival and Yellow Barn music center in Vermont. Vitally involved with contemporary music, Itzkoff has worked with major contemporary composers, including Jörg Widmann, Tan Dun, Vivian Fung, and Steven Mackey, and he is the founder of his own American Modern Opera Company. He has also performed cross-culturally with such artists as choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith. Itzkoff is active as a chamber music player, collaborating with such high-profile artists as violinist Cho-Liang Lin, soprano Lucy Crowe, and pianist Gilbert Kalish. In 2023, he was heard on the Sono Luminus label album Sonic Alchemy as part of a trio with violinist YuEun Kim and pianist Mina Gajić.
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