About
Cellist Samuel Magill has been called “…a world-class artist…” by Fanfare Magazine in 2018. Of his Centaur release of Andrew Rudin’s Cello Sonata, Fanfare wrote “Throughout, Magill’s beautiful cello tone is in evidence, endlessly expressive, subtle in shading…..He is a firstrate artist and instrumentalist.” His first Naxos CD of Vernon Duke’s Cello Concerto was hailed as “flat-out magnificent” by the American Record Guide.In 2014 The Strad Magazine raved about Magill’s “sumptuous tone” in his 2014 recital at New York’s Bargemusic series, in which he and Beth Levin played the rarely heard Czerny arrangement of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Violin Sonata. This led to their 2016 Navona CD which includes the Kreutzer, the Solo Cello Sonata by Artur Schnabel, and the Ballade by Emanuel Moór. Writing in Classics Today, Jed Distler said “…Magill’s superb technique, range of color, and intelligent pacing make a compelling case (for the Schnabel)” He wrote about the Beethoven, “ The point is that the musical message transcends any questions of instrument on account of Magill’s supple bow arm, spotless intonation, and tonal evenness, abetted by Levin’s intense response to Beethoven’s subito dynamics and her sound collaborative instincts.” Mr Magill has appeared as soloist throughout Japan and the U.S., including performances of both the Schumann Concerto and the Brahms Double Concerto in Tokyo’s famed Suntory Hall, and the Brahms and the Haydn D Major Concerto in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. He has partnered with the pianists Oxana Yablonskaya, Pascal Rogé, and the late Grant Johannesen, and has given annual recitals since 1994 at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. He is a co-founder, with flutist Lucian Rinando and harpist Mélanie Genin, of the flute, cello, and harp trio Sono Auros. They made their New York debut a Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall to critical acclaim. Strings Magazine declared them “masters of their instruments.” Magill is also a founding member of the New York Piano Quartet. A pupil of the late Zara Nelsova, Mr. Magill also studied with Laurence Lesser at the Peabody Institute and with Shirley Trepel at Rice University. He is the former Associate Principal Cello with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, former member of the Houston Symphony, and a former member of the Pittsburgh Symphony