Curtis Macomber

Violinist Curtis Macomber is a versatile chamber player and soloist with a specialization in contemporary music; he has performed in world premieres numbering in the hundreds. Macomber is also a prominent educator. Macomber was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and grew up in nearby Fairhaven. He attended the Juilliard School in New York for bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, studying with Joseph Fuchs and winning two prizes from the school. He has performed with several leading American chamber ensembles, both in traditional repertory and in contemporary music. In 1982, he joined the New World String Quartet, remaining with that group until 1993, serving as artist-in-residence at Harvard University, touring the U.S. and Europe, and making 14 recordings with the group. Macomber also co-founded the Apollo Piano Trio, joined the Da Capo Chamber Players in 2007 and the Manhattan String Quartet in 2011, and is a member of the New York Chamber Soloists. He performs with the contemporary music ensemble Speculum Musicae and has played in various capacities with several other contemporary music groups, including the Group for Contemporary Music, the Sea Cliff Chamber Players, and the New York New Music Ensemble. His world premiere credits with these groups include works by Elliott Carter, George Perle, and Mario Davidovsky, among many others. In addition to his work with chamber groups, Macomber has made recordings as a soloist for CRI, Arabesque, Bridge, and other labels of both traditional and contemporary repertoires. He recorded the violin sonatas of Grieg and Brahms with, respectively, pianists Marija Stroke and Derek Han, and he appeared on a 2015 recording of Morton Feldman's work Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello. Four years later, he was featured with soprano Susan Narucki on the album Edge of Silence: Works for Voice by György Kurtág. Macomber has taught violin at the Manhattan School of Music since 1994 and chamber music at the Juilliard School since 1998. ~ James Manheim