Biography

David Gerstein is currently the principal cellist of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, which he has been a member of since September 2008. Referred to by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as the “busiest classical musician in Arkansas,” he is regularly featured in orchestral solos with the orchestra, which have been described as “absolutely gorgeous,” and on many chamber music series throughout the state. He is the cellist of the Arkansas Symphony’s Quapaw String Quartet, which performs regularly at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, AR.

During the 2015-2016 school year, Mr. Gerstein was Instructor of Cello at the University of Arkansas. He was a frequent performer during that time, appearing as soloist with the University Symphony in the Brahms Double Concerto, and in several concerts with the Fulbright Piano Trio as well as solo recitals. He managed a studio of 18 cellists and founded the Razorback Cello Quartet.

During the 2012-2013 Arkansas Symphony season, Mr. Gerstein was featured as a concerto soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, which according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was “ripping and roaring” and “lift[ed] audience members out of their seats.” Mr. Gerstein was also a featured soloist with the Pine Bluff Symphony in 2012.

Mr. Gerstein has recently appeared in concert collaborating with Midori, pipa virtuoso Wu Man, pianist Norman Krieger, violinist Augustin Hadelich, the Ying Quartet, cellist Inbal Segev, and violinst Vadim Gluzman.

Frequently working with local Arkansan musicians, Mr. Gerstein has founded several thriving chamber music ensembles: Trio Arkansas, Wild Beats, ARmusica, and the Kahng-Gerstein Duo. Mr. Gerstein has appeared in concert with these ensembles at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Fairfield Bay and Hot Springs, AR, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR.

Mr. Gerstein is a Co-Artistic Director of the East-West Virtuosi in Ashland, OR, spending two weeks every summer performing concerts and outreach at venues across the Rogue Valley. During the summer of 2014 Mr. Gerstein joined the cello section at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, CA, and the cello faculty at the Music in the Mountains Conservatory in Durango, CO.

Mr. Gerstein has performed with many great orchestras and under the baton of great conductors such as James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Oliver Knussen, Mark Elder, Larry Rachleff, Stefan Asbury, Guillermo Figueroa, Phillip Mann, Robert Moody, and Marin Alsop.

A frequent collaborator with living composers, Mr. Gerstein has recently worked with Michael Torke, Jennifer Higdon and Christopher Theofanidis, performing both chamber and orchestral works. Mr. Gerstein was a featured performer at Elliott Carter’s 100th Birthday Celebration at Tanglewood and gave the American Premiere of his song cycle, What Are Years also at Tanglewood.

In 2008 Mr. Gerstein premiered Ekphrasis sobre el “Miedo” de Tanguy by Colombian composer Jairo Duarte-Lopez. The piece won the national composition award in Colombia and was recently published along with a recording that Mr. Gerstein recorded in March of 2008.
Mr. Gerstein received a BM with Distinction from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with David Ying. He completed his studies at Rice University in 2008, where he earned a Master of Music under the direction of Norman Fischer. Mr. Gerstein has previously served on the faculties at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Central Arkansas, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.