Steven Ansell
Encyclopedia
Steven A. Ansell is an American violist
whose versatile career involves work as a chamber musician, solo artist, and orchestral musician. Ansell is currently principal violist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
, a position he has held since September 1996. Prior to his appointment, Ansell had already appeared with the orchestra as a guest soloist. Ansell also currently teaches at the Boston University
College of Fine Arts and is a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. Ansell is also a founding member of the Muir String Quartet.
. He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music
at the age of 21. While at Curtis, Ansell studied with Michael Tree
and Karen Tuttle
. Immediately following graduation, Ansell was hired as the professor of viola at the University of Houston
. He left the university two years later at the age of 23 to become assistant principal violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
under André Previn
.
As a chamber musician Ansell has appeared with some of the finest chamber music organizations such as the Boston Chamber Music Society
and Concord Chamber Music Society. He also regularly tours with the Muir String Quartet, which he co-founded in 1979. In January 2011, Ansell and the Muir String Quartet performed with former U.S. Secretary of State and pianist Condoleezza Rice
.
Ansell's solo appearances include Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante
with Malcolm Lowe under the baton of André Previn
; Berlioz
's Harold in Italy with Emmanuel Krivine
; Bruch
's Concerto for Viola, Clarinet and Orchestra
with Seiji Ozawa
; and Strauss
's Don Quixote
with Mstislav Rostropovich
, among others. Ansell has also performed in concert with many other great musicians and conductors like Yo-Yo Ma
, Steven Isserlis
, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
, Jian Wang
, and Harry Ellis Dickson among others. Steven Ansell is a contributing editor to the Chicago-based online string music company Ovation Press, and has edited numerous works, including major symphonies by Beethoven and Brahms.
Ansell has done solo work with many fine ensembles including Sinfonia Concertante, the Boston Classical Orchestra
, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra
among others. He has also performed at such music festivals as Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts, Tanglewood Music Festival
, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
, Marlboro Music Festival, Blossom Music Festival
, Newport Music Festival
, Festival dei Due Mondi
, and Snowbird Music Festival.
As a recording artist Ansell has received two Grand Prix du Disque awards and a Gramophone Magazine award for Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year. He has appeared on PBS's "In Performance at the White House".
Violist
-Notable violists:A* Julia Rebekka Adler * Sir Hugh Allen , conductor* Kris Allen * Johann Andreas Amon * Paul Angerer , composer* Steven Ansell * Atar Arad * Cecil Aronowitz...
whose versatile career involves work as a chamber musician, solo artist, and orchestral musician. Ansell is currently principal violist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
, a position he has held since September 1996. Prior to his appointment, Ansell had already appeared with the orchestra as a guest soloist. Ansell also currently teaches at the Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
College of Fine Arts and is a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. Ansell is also a founding member of the Muir String Quartet.
Biography
Ansell is a native of Seattle, WashingtonSeattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
at the age of 21. While at Curtis, Ansell studied with Michael Tree
Michael Tree
Michael Tree is an American violist, born in Newark, New Jersey.-Biography:Michael Tree's principal studies were with Efrem Zimbalist on violin and viola at the Curtis Institute of Music...
and Karen Tuttle
Karen Tuttle
Karen Tuttle was an American viola teacher, famous for her "coordination" technique, which emphasizes being comfortable while playing the instrument. She was originally a violinist who chose to become a violist when she wanted to study with William Primrose, whose technique and ease in playing...
. Immediately following graduation, Ansell was hired as the professor of viola at the University of Houston
Moores School of Music
The Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music is the music school of the University of Houston. The Moores School offers the Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Arts in Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in music performance, conducting, theory and composition, music history...
. He left the university two years later at the age of 23 to become assistant principal violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
under André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
.
As a chamber musician Ansell has appeared with some of the finest chamber music organizations such as the Boston Chamber Music Society
Boston Chamber Music Society
The Boston Chamber Music Society is an American organization of musicians located in Boston, Massachusetts and dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. The organization performs works from the Baroque era to the present day and is a member of Chamber Music America...
and Concord Chamber Music Society. He also regularly tours with the Muir String Quartet, which he co-founded in 1979. In January 2011, Ansell and the Muir String Quartet performed with former U.S. Secretary of State and pianist Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
.
Ansell's solo appearances include Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra
The Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E-flat major, K. 364 , was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.At the time of its composition in 1779, Mozart was on a tour of Europe that included Mannheim and Paris...
with Malcolm Lowe under the baton of André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
; Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Harold in Italy with Emmanuel Krivine
Emmanuel Krivine
Emmanuel Krivine is a French conductor, the son of a Polish mother and a Russian father. He studied the violin as a youth and was a prize-winner at the Paris Conservatoire. He later studied at the Queen Elisabeth School in Brussels....
; Bruch
Max Bruch
Max Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...
's Concerto for Viola, Clarinet and Orchestra
Concerto for Clarinet, Viola, and Orchestra (Bruch)
The Concerto for Clarinet, Viola, and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 88, by Max Bruch was composed in 1911 for his son, Max Felix Bruch, and received its first performance in 1912, with Willy Hess and Max Felix Bruch as the soloists...
with Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
; and Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's Don Quixote
Don Quixote (Strauss)
Don Quixote, Op. 35, is a composition by Richard Strauss for cello, viola and large orchestra. Subtitled Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters , the work is based on the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. Strauss composed this work in Munich in 1897...
with Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...
, among others. Ansell has also performed in concert with many other great musicians and conductors like Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, Steven Isserlis
Steven Isserlis
Steven Isserlis CBE is a British cellist. He is distinguished for his diverse repertoire, distinctive sound and total command of phrasing. He studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and was much influenced by the great iconoclast of Russian cello playing, Daniil Shafran...
, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos is a Spanish conductor and composer.Frühbeck studied violin, piano, and composition at the conservatories of Bilbao and Madrid...
, Jian Wang
Jian Wang
Jian Wang is a contemporary Chinese painter.- Early life :Born in the city of Dalian in 1958, Wang studied social realism in school, but his work privately earned him a space in the Dalian Youth Palace Arts. There, he was taught English...
, and Harry Ellis Dickson among others. Steven Ansell is a contributing editor to the Chicago-based online string music company Ovation Press, and has edited numerous works, including major symphonies by Beethoven and Brahms.
Ansell has done solo work with many fine ensembles including Sinfonia Concertante, the Boston Classical Orchestra
Boston Classical Orchestra
The Boston Classical Orchestra is a chamber orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1980 by the violinist Robert Brink. The orchestra's music director is Steven Lipsitt. It performs at Faneuil Hall....
, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
among others. He has also performed at such music festivals as Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts, Tanglewood Music Festival
Tanglewood Music Festival
The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts....
, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a classical music festival held every year in summer time all over the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany....
, Marlboro Music Festival, Blossom Music Festival
Blossom Music Center
Blossom Music Center is an amphitheatre located in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The pavilion seats 5,700 people, with space for about 13,500 more on the lawn. It is the summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra, which performs its annual Blossom Festival there. The venue is also host to a full summer...
, Newport Music Festival
Newport Music Festival
Newport Music Festival is a classical music festival that takes place in Newport, Rhode Island.It was founded in 1969 as a summer season of the Metropolitan Opera. The outdoor venue was not conducive to classical music performance, and instead the grand rooms of the stately Newport mansions were...
, Festival dei Due Mondi
Festival dei Due Mondi
The Festival dei Due Mondi ' is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958...
, and Snowbird Music Festival.
As a recording artist Ansell has received two Grand Prix du Disque awards and a Gramophone Magazine award for Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year. He has appeared on PBS's "In Performance at the White House".