Inbal Megiddo
- Music Department
Cellist Inbal Megiddo brings to her performances years of experience, the influence of master teachers, and praise from influential musicians. Maestro Zubin Mehta describes her as "an extremely talented, very musical musician." At her New York debut at the Lincoln Center her playing was hailed by the press as having "magical expression and technical expertise." She has a "warm lustrous communicative way... the performance was sincerity personified!"
Ms Megiddo has given many concerts in Europe, Asia and America. Among these are a recital in the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Hall in New York, her Berlin debut with the Berlin Symphony with Maestro Lior Shambadal at the Philharmonie and a recital at the Staatsoper. She has had performances and radio broadcasts with the Jerusalem Symphony under the direction of Sergiu Comissiona, live recital broadcasts in several countries including Germany, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Israel (Mishkenot Sha'ananim Music Center, and Eden Tamir Center in Jerusalem), and the USA (Chicago - the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series - and New York's Bob Sherman Show on WQXR). She has performed and toured extensively with pianist Saleem Abboud. A champion of contemporary compositions, Ms Megiddo has made a recording of works by Douglas Lilburn for the Atoll label, a recording of Israeli composer Hanna Levy's works, and premiered works of composers including Ezra Laderman, Ross Harris, David Brubeck, and Ofer Ben Amots. She has also regularly recorded and performed with the Grammy Award nominated group, The Yale Cellos. Inbal is founding member of the Te Koki Trio, whose debut recording of the Debussy Sonatas and Piano Trio was nominated Best Classical Album in the 2017 New Zealand Music Awards. Her recording of the Beethoven Cello Sonatas and Variations with pianist Jian Liu was released on Rattle Records to critical acclaim, and her recording of the Bach Cello Suites on the Atoll label is scheduled for release in early 2019. In 2012, she gave the New Zealand premiere of the Barber Cello Concerto, where her playing was hailed in the press as "Superb!" and "virtuosic, brilliant and powerful." Other recent and upcoming engagements include performances with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Ukraine Philharmonic, the Lithuanian Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, performances at the Lincoln Center in New York, Australasian premieres of the Weinberg and Villa Lobos cello concertos in Wellington, and concerto and recital tours in the USA, Austria, Germany, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and throughout Asia.
Inbal Megiddo began her cello studies at the age of two, and gave her first performances a year later. She holds graduate and undergraduate degrees from Yale University, where she studied with and was assistant to Professor Aldo Parisot, and collaborated with Erick Friedman, Jesse Levin, Ben Verdery, Peter Oundjian, Boris Berman, Peter Frankl, Claude Frank, and the Tokyo String Quartet. Among her other cello teachers were Prof. Uzi Wiesel at the University of Tel Aviv, Prof. Shmuel Magen at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem, and she received private lessons from Mstislav Rostropovich. She later performed as part of Maestro Rostropovich's cello ensemble to mark the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. She performed in master classes with such artists as Janos Starker, Heinrich Schiff, Michel Strauss, Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman and Yuri Bashmet. Ms Megiddo has participated in the Manchester, Banff, Rolandseck (Bonn) and West-Eastern Divan festivals as a soloist and chamber musician. She has held the position of principal and guest principal cellist with the Bridgeport, Waterbury, and West Eastern Divan Symphony Orchestras.
In high demand as a teacher, Inbal taught at Yale University for five years as assistant to Aldo Parisot, had residencies and given master classes at universities and festivals including the University of Music and Art in Vienna, the Royal Academy of Music in Dublin, Oberlin Conservatory, New England Conservatory, University of North Texas, Central Conservatory in Beijing, the La Salle School for the Arts and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore, the International Cello Congress in Israel, Dublin International Master Classes, and Rubin Academy in Jerusalem. She is a Distinguished Guest Artist, of the biannual International Melbourne Cello Festival. Ms. Megiddo is the founder and director of the Cellophonia International Festival in Wellington, NZ. She was appointed a resource panelist for Singapore School of the Arts and is a fellow of Grace Hopper College at Yale University, was appointed Visiting Assistant Professor at Oberlin College, and Associate Professor and Head of Cello Studies at the New Zealand School of Music, Victoria University.
Ms. Megiddo has received many awards and prizes, including first prizes at the William Waite competition, the Friends of Music competition, the Max Varon Fund, and the Aviezer Foundation. Since the age of six, she has been a recipient of the America Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship, under the patronage of Isaac Stern. She was selected by the Stradivari Society as a rising star, receiving use of a Stradivarius cello on loan.