German-American cellist Paul Dwyer was born in Munster, Indiana, but spent the most formative years of his life (according to Freud) in Vienna, where he decided to play the double bass, but was told he’s too small. At age eight his family moved to Munich, where Paul spent most of his time playing soccer, running subversive school newspapers and transcribing Metallica songs for a heavy metal cello quartet he formed with his best friends. In 12th grade, he made his opera debut singing the role of Polyphemus in Handel’s Acis and Galatea.
In 2003, Paul followed his roots back to the American Midwest for college, studying at the Oberlin Conservatory (Bachelor of Music ’07) and the University of Michigan (Master of Music ’08; Doctor of Musical Arts ’12), where he was the recipient of a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship and a Theodore Presser Award. He also spent a year back in good old Europe as a Fulbright Fellow in Amsterdam, delving into contemporary music with Frances-Marie Uitti and baroque cello with Anner Byslma. In 2013, he completed additional graduate studies in the Historical Performance department of The Juilliard School.
Paul is fortunate to have a rich musical life playing both historical and modern cello. He is a founding member of the Diderot String Quartet and ACRONYM, loves to play chamber music and collaborate with young composers. He is Assistant Principal cello of Lyric Opera of Chicago and teaches cello and chamber music at Notre Dame University.
Pianist Daniel Schlosberg leads a kaleidoscopic musical life. He enjoys a multifaceted relationship with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In addition to appearing on numerous chamber music and new music concerts, he was a featured soloist in subscription performances of Messiaen’s “Trois Petites Liturgies”, for which John von Rhein in The Chicago Tribune wrote: “Daniel Schlosberg played the daunting piano part splendidly”; and Lawrence A. Johnson of the Chicago Classical Review wrote of “a prominent, challenging piano part, played here with great fire and conviction by Daniel Schlosberg in a notable CSO debut.” He is also a frequent pre-concert lecturer at the CSO, and has adjudicated its young artist concerto competition.
He gives frequent solo recitals at Bargemusic and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and in past seasons has given solo and chamber music recitals at the Austrian Cultural Forum (New York) and Phillips Collection (D.C). He appears frequently on radio stations nationwide.
Schlosberg can be heard on a number of recordings, including: Stephen Andrew Taylor’s quartet “Quark Shadows” (Albany Records) with members of the Pacifica Quartet and Chicago Symphony; as the soloist in Dimitri Tymoczko’s Piano Concerto, “Another Fantastic Voyage” with the Illinois Modern Ensemble (Bridge); and Augusta Read Thomas’s “Starlight Ribbons” (Nimbus Records, commissioned by Harvard’s Fromm Foundation), her most extended solo piano work, for which he also gave the live premiere. His two solo albums, “Child’s Play” (Schumann, Lachenmann, Paert and Debussy) and “Gaul Me Maybe: French Baroque Keyboard Works” (Centaur) have garnered critical acclaim. His most recent recording is of Lei Liang’s “Inkscape,” a quintet for piano and four percussionists, with Grammy-winning Third Coast Percussion (New World Records).
Biographies courtesy of IMF Chicago.
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