“superb playing…clearly heartfelt”  Vox in Camera

After starting cello study at an early age with her mother, the esteemed cellist Ardyth Alton, Ann attended the PreCollege Division of the Juilliard School as a student of Channing Robbins. She was awarded a full scholarship from the Juilliard School where she earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. She received her Doctorate of Music from the Manhattan School of Music as a fellowship recipient student of Bernard Greenhouse.

Performer

As a concert cellist, Ann has won awards from the Harriet Hale Woolley Foundation, the National Federation of Music Clubs, the Koussevitsky Foundation, the National Arts Club, and the National Music Teachers Association. She has performed as soloist and chamber musician at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Salle Cortot, the Caramoor Festival, and other prestigious concert venues. Her performances have been broadcast on American and German Public Television and National Public Radio.

In addition to playing a vast repertoire of sonatas and solo cello works, she has been featured as soloist with orchestra in cello concertos by Boccherini, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Herbert, Popper, Ranjbaran, and Saint-Saens. Her other solo works performed with orchestra include Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, Bloch’s Schelomo, Elegy by Faure, Kol Nidrei by Bruch, Hungarian Rhapsody by Popper, and Delfausse’s Concerto Grosso (written for TRITONIS, one of several ensembles Ann plays with). Along with her duo performances with piano, Ann is cellist in CHAMBER ACCORD, the ACE TRIO, and TRITONIS, and principal cellist of the  Lake Placid Sinfonietta and the Punta Gorda Symphony (FL).

Dedicated Teacher

A dedicated teacher, Ann has taught cello at Concordia College (MN), the State University of New York at Purchase, the Manhattan School of Music, Clinton Community College, and Skidmore College. She has also taught highly gifted young cellists at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division and, for almost two decades, at the PreCollege Division of the Juilliard School.

Artist’s Bio (pdf version here: 574 words)

Called an “exquisite performer” by High Performance Review and  “an outstanding artist who plays with rounded tone and ideal phrasing”  by the Albany Times Union, cellist Ann Alton has performed as recitalist, orchestra soloist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

As a concert cellist, Ann has won awards from the Harriet Hale Woolley Foundation, the National Federation of Music Clubs, the Koussevitsky Foundation, the National Arts Club, and the National Music Teachers Association.  She has performed as soloist and chamber musician at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Salle Cortot, the Caramoor Festival, and other prestigious concert venues. Her performances have been broadcast on American and German Public Television and National Public Radio.  In addition to playing a vast repertoire of sonatas and solo cello works, she has played concertos with orchestra by Boccherini, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Herbert, Popper, Ranjbaran, and Saint-Saens. Her other solo works performed with orchestra include Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, Bloch’s Schelomo, Elegy by Faure, Elegy by Ranjbaran, Kol Nidrei by Bruch, Hungarian Rhapsody by Popper, and Delfausse’s Concerto Grosso (written for TRITONIS).

An accomplished chamber musician, Ann has won praise for her sensitive ensemble playing. Parisien Liberé de l’Essone called her performance of Brahms’ E minor Sonata “a dialogue tout en finesse.”  Vox in Camera remarked, “a most interesting, often passionate evening of chamber music. Alton’s playing throughout the evening was superb, clearly heartfelt.”  In addition to performing as a duo with piano, Ann has been cellist with the Concordia Trio, Concertium, Capital Chamber Artists, and the Valcour Chamber Players.  Formerly principal cellist of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, Ann is currently principal cellist of the Lake Placid Sinfonietta  and the Punta Gorda Symphony.  Her recordings are found on the Vox and Albany labels.

As a member of TRITONIS, a trio with guitarist Joel Brown and flutist Kristin Bacchiocchi-Stewart,  Ann has been active in commissioning and presenting new music by noted composers. This trio has been critically acclaimed for its “versatility, provocative programming, and expert performers.”  Recently Alton has joined with pianist Cristine Coyiuto and violinist Michael Emery to form the ACE TRIO.  This past spring their Trio-n-Triple tour of the Philippines featuring both chamber music concerts and performances of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.  The trio performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto again in New York with the Lake Placid Sinfonietta.  ACE TRIO has garnered critical praise for its’ “artistry and passion.”

After starting cello study at an early age with her mother, the esteemed cellist Ardyth Alton, Ann attended the PreCollege Division of the Juilliard School as a student of Channing Robbins.  She was awarded a full scholarship from the Juilliard School where she earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees.  She received her Doctorate of Music from the Manhattan School of Music as a fellowship recipient student of Bernard Greenhouse.  As recipient of the Harriet Hale Woolley Fellowship Ann spent a year in Europe studying cello with William Pleeth, chamber music with Genvieve Martigny and Yvonne Loriod, and performing in recitals and chamber concerts.

A dedicated teacher, Ann has taught cello at Concordia College (MN), the State University of New York at Purchase, the Manhattan School of Music, Clinton Community College, and Skidmore College. She has taught highly gifted young cellists at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division and, for almost two decades, at the PreCollege Division of the Juilliard School.