Japanese-Norwegian violist, Masumi Per Rostad, is often described as an elegant and expressive musician. As a member of the Pacifica String Quartet, with whom he performs over 90 concerts a year, he won a Grammy Award for ‘Best Chamber Music Performance’ in 2009, Musical America’s 2009 Ensemble of the Year, the Cleveland Quartet Award and is the Resident Quartet of the Metropolitan Museum in NYC. Masumi has participated at the Marlboro Music Festival and performed as violist for the Spoleto USA and Skaneateles chamber music festivals. Collaborative highlights include performances with the St Lawrence, Emerson, and Pavel Haas Quartets, Yo Yo Ma, and Menahem Pressler. He has toured and recorded with the International Sejong Soloists and the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra. He can be found on recordings for Cedille Records, Naxos, Tzadik, Windspell Productions, and Musical Observations. In 2008 the Third Street Music School Settlement in NYC, where he began his musical studies at age three, presented him with the ‘Rising Star Award’ for musical achievement. Mr. Rostad received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School where he was awarded the Lillian Fuchs Award for outstanding graduating violist. At Juilliard he studied with Karen Tuttle and was her teaching assistant. He has also served on the faculty of the Northwestern University School of Music. He counts Paul Zukofsky among his great musical mentors. He performed the world premiere of Michael White's Viola Concerto in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall with conductor James DePreist after winning the Juilliard concerto competition in 1999. He also gave the New York premiere of Paul Schoenfield's Viola Concerto with the Juilliard Symphony. The New York Times described it as "magnificently performed" and New York Magazine heralded him as “headed for the big career.” Currently, he lives with his wife, Milena, in bustling downtown Champaign, Illinois where he is a professor of viola at the University of Illinois School of Music. He is also on the faculty of the University of Chicago. Download biography: Masumi Rostad's bio.docBiography_files/Masumi%20Rostad%27s%20bio.docshapeimage_1_link_0
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