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Canadian-born, Paris-based cellist
Gary Hoffman has evolved his formidable technical and interpretive skills by thoughtfully integrating virtually every aspect of cello playing, from proper use of the fourth finger and correct posture to the cellist's emotional expressivity and manner of shaping phrases.
Hoffman, who regularly holds master classes across the globe, has appeared as soloist with the major orchestras of Chicago, San Francisco, Baltimore, Montreal, London, Paris, Rotterdam, Geneva, and others. As a recitalist, he has appeared at just as many major venues, including New York, Tokyo, Florence, Lisbon, and Copenhagen.
Hoffman also regularly performs chamber music and has made numerous recordings of varied repertory for such labels as
EMI, RCA, Sony, and Delos.
Gary Hoffman was born in Vancouver, Canada, in 1956. His father, Irwin, is a conductor and his mother, Esther, a violinist; his brother
Joel is a pianist and composer, while brother Toby is a violist and sister Deborah a harpist. Young
Gary studied music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where his most important teacher was
Janos Starker. He also studied in Chicago with Karl Fruh.
Hoffman debuted in London at age 15 in a recital at Wigmore Hall. When he was 22 he became the youngest person ever appointed to the faculty at the Jacobs School of Music. In 1979
Hoffman gave his New York debut.
Hoffman's watershed moment came in 1986 when he won the Paris-based
Rostropovich International Competition. Thereafter he regularly appeared in recitals and with major orchestras across the globe, having now left his faculty post at the Jacobs School. Among
Hoffman's more acclaimed early recordings is the 1992 RCA disc of
Schumann piano quartets, with
André Previn (piano), Heiichiro Ohyama (viola), and
Kim Young Uck (violin).
Hoffman occasionally played in concerts with his parents and siblings; in April 1996 he appeared with his brothers and sister in their quartet debut concert, at Bargemusic (Brooklyn), performing, among other works,
Joel's Music Within the Words, Part 2.
In the new century
Hoffman was busy on all fronts, including with concert work at music festivals such as Aspen, Marlboro, Ravinia, Verbier, Mostly Mozart, and Bath. He has also been quite active in the recording studio, and among his later recordings is a 2009 Euroarts DVD of
Schumann's Quintet for Piano and Strings in E flat major, Op. 44, recorded with other performances given at the 2008 Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival. In 2012, he release a disc of
Mendelssohn's works for cello and piano.