Paul Neubauer (viola) joined the New York Philharmonic in 1984 at age 21, the youngest principal string player in the orchestra's history. His exceptional musicality and effortless playing distinguish him as one of this generation's quintessential artists.
His musical activities are consistently creative. In a pair of highly acclaimed New York premieres, he performed Bartók's Viola Concerto (which he helped to revise along with Barók's son Peter and composer Nelson Dellamaggiore), and Max Bruch's Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola with clarinetist David Shifrin. He gave the US Premiere of Richard Suter's Three Nocturnes for Viola and Orchestra.
He has performed as a soloist with orchestras and festivals the world over, and has recorded with top labels including Decca, Delos, New World, RCA Red Seal, and Sony Classical.
He has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and A Prairie Home Companion and in People Magazine. He appears on Live From Lincoln Center telecasts with the Chamber Music Society, on PBS's Front Row Center and In Concert, on Argentinean, Brazilian, and Mexican television, on NPR's Performance Today and Morning Edition, and in radio performances in Canada, Germany, Hungary, Norway, and Yugoslavia.
His extensive discography includes the Walton Viola Concerto, work by Quincy Porter and David Diamond, Loeffler's Two Rhapsodies, Bright Sheng's Three Chinese Love Songs, Beethoven's Serenades, works by Mozart, Beethoven, Wolpe, Kodaly, Dohnanyi, Dvorak, Wuorinen, Schubert, Weber and Knussen, as well as the complete Brandenburg Concerti.
Among Mr. Neubauer's numerous awards are First Prize in the Mae M. Whitaker International Competition, the D'Angelo International Competition, and the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. He has been the recipient of a Solo Recitalist's Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a special Prize from the Naumburg Foundation which awarded him an Alice Tully Hall recital debut. He has been sponsored by the Epstein Young Artists Program, and was the first violist chosen to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant.
During his six year tenure with the New York Philharmonic, he appeared as soloist in over twenty performances. One particularly memorable performance was the New York premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki's Viola Concerto with Penderecki conducting. He has been active as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, the Bavarian State Radio Orchestra, the Orcester der Beethovenhalle Bonn, the Kansas City Symphony, the English Chamber Orchestra, and the Knoxville Symphony.
Mr. Neubauer made his Carnegie Hall debut with the first performance of Joel Phillip Friedman's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Stavanger Symphony (Norway), Bournemouth Symphony (England), the Edmonton Symphony (Canada), and the Taipei Symphony (Taiwan). In Rome, he has performed with violinist Vladimir Spivakov and the Orchestra of the National Acadamy of Santa Cecilia. Other collaborations include performances with Andre Watts and Vladimir Feltsman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with Joshua Bell at London's Wigmore Hall, and with Pinchas Zuckerman, James Galway, Vladimir Spivakov, and Alicia de Larrocha at the Mostly Mozart Festival.
Also see Mr. Neubauer's page at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center website.
Some of Mr. Neubauer's recordings are available through Amazon.com
"One of the interesting things about chamber music is that we each want to do it our way, and there's no question that some have stronger opinions than others; how are we going to work it out?"
"Stage deportment is important; you have to create a mood even before you play, not only for the audience but for yourself. Pausing a few moments not only looks more settling for the audience but gives you a chance to focus in on what you're doing as well."
"I'm an old-fashioned guy. Stuck on a desert island, I'd take my Kreisler, Boulanger, Heifetz and Primrose recordings . . .
If Fritz Kreisler were to play a concert today people might say, What's going on here -- those slides are excessive. But he played with so much elegance and charm, everything was appropriate."
"William Primrose -- perhaps the greatest violist who ever lived -- was an excellent violinist but then he switched to the viola and became a god."
"I got introduced to gypsy music in 1980 and I've been a huge fan ever since. I've heard gypsy violinists at Hungarian restaurants in London, New York, Vienna, Amsterdam, Budapest . . . I've also played with some of them."
"I liken playing to prayer. When you pray you're meditating, clearing your mind and only thinking of one thing, be it Allah, God, Buddha.
When you play music you also are freeing your mind of everything and just concentrating on the music, so that's prayer also."