Joshua Koestenbaum

Cellist Joshua Koestenbaum combines his career at The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra with active solo and chamber music performances as well as being an active private teacher. A member of the SPCO since 1980, he has appeared frequently as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra. During the 2001-02 season, Koestenbaum replaced Heinrich Schiff, playing the Haydn Concerto in C, on just a few days’ notice. The same season, he gave numerous performances of the Tartini Cello Concerto in D. Koestenbaum has served as principal and assistant principal cellist of the Aspen Festival Orchestra; assistant principal cellist of the Yale Philharmonia, the San Jose Symphony and the New Haven Symphony; and principal cellist of the Grant Park Festival Orchestra in Chicago. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Jaime Laredo, Joseph Silverstein, Pinchas Zukerman, Hugh Wolff, Jeffrey Kahane, and with fellow SPCO musicians at home and at the Rolandseck Festival in Germany. Koestenbaum has coached at the National Orchestral Institute in Baltimore, and was a cello instructor at St. Olaf’s summer academy Cello: an American Experience. Koestenbaum earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and received his master's degree from Yale University, where he studied with Aldo Parisot. Among his other mentors were Bonnie Hampton, Margaret Rowell and Zara Nelsova. In 2010 he was featured on Twin Cities Public Television’s Minnesota Originals series. Koestenbaum is an aviation fan and ham-radio enthusiast.