Lynn Harrell

The son of musicians, Lynn Harrell was born in New York on January 30, 1944, and took his first cello lessons with Heinrich Joachim of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, before studying at the Juilliard School with Leonard Rose and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Orphaned at eighteen by his father's death from cancer and his mother's car accident, he joined the Cleveland Orchestra, then directed by George Szell, thanks to his godfather Robert Shaw. After this experience as a solo cellist in an orchestra, Lynn Harrell returned to New York in 1971 to perform in recital. Winner of the inaugural Avery Fisher Prize in 1975, he embarked on an international career and signed a long-term recording contract with the Decca label, performing the great works of the cello repertoire, solo, in duo with pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy and in trio with Itzhak Perlman. In 1994, he was invited to perform at the Vatican in front of Pope John Paul II and at the Grammy Awards ceremony with Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. A pillar of the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, Lynn Harrell gives master classes and teaches at several institutions, including the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Juilliard School in New York. A competition was created in her name by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Active for eight decades, the cellist led the Concertgebouw Orchestra in the recording of the Cello Concertos by Josef Haydn and C.P.E. Bach (2017). Seized by a heart attack, he died at his home in Santa Monica on April 27, 2020, aged 76.