Cynthia Phelps

Violist Cynthia Phelps’s versatile career includes appearances as chamber musician, soloist, and as Principal Violist of the New York Philharmonic, with which she has appeared as soloist on major stages across the globe, performing an extensive repertoire including two specially commissioned concertos by Julia Adolphe and Sofia Gubaidulina. Other solo appearances include the Minnesota Orchestra, Shanghai, Vermont, and San Diego Symphonies, Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. She has collaborated internationally with such artists as Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Pinchas Zukerman, Gil Shaham, Yo-Yo Ma, Daniil Trifonov, and Yefim Bronfman. A much sought-after chamber musician, she performs regularly with the Jupiter Chamber Players, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and at New York’s Tisch Center for the Arts at the 92nd Street Y, as well as with ensembles including the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Guarneri, American, and Brentano String Quartets. She is a frequent guest at the Marlboro, Summerfest LaJolla, Bridgehampton, Vail, Mostly Mozart, Santa Fe, Seattle, Moab, and Schleswig-Holstein Festivals, and performs and tours regularly with the New York Philharmonic String Quartet. Her most recent recording, Air, was nominated for a Grammy Award. Ms. Phelps’s many honors include first prize in both the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the Washington National Competition, and she is a recipient of the Pro Musicis International Award. She serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School and the Music Academy of the West.