Tsung-Yu Tsai 蔡宗佑 | Cellist
Biography
A native of Taiwan, Tsung-Yu began his cello studies at the age of seven. He has won first places at the Tainan Municipal Music Competition and the Cheer Taiwan International Music Competition as well as the Excellence Award at the Taiwan National Student Competition of Music. He has performed in masterclasses by Timothy Eddy, Peter Wiley, Paul Watkins, Brinton Smith, Colin Carr, Wolfgang Redik, and Matthew Jones.
As a committed orchestral musician, he has played under the batons of Andris Nelson, Stefan Asbury, Thomas Adès and Giancarlo Guerrero, Kent Nagano, Alexander Shelly and served as principal/assistant principal cellist for the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, McGill Symphony Orchestra, Apex Symphony Orchestra, and WanSha Chamber Orchestra.
An avid chamber musician, Tsung-Yu has attended Juilliard String Quartet Seminar at Tanglewood and Colin Carr’s Trio Seminar at SUNY Stony Brook. Additionally, he has had the opportunity to work and study with highly lauded musicians such as members of the Emerson, Orion, Guarneri, and Formosa quartets, Gilbert Kalish, David Finckel, Denise Lupien, Matthew Lipman, Arnaud Sussmann, and Hagai Shaham. As a member of the Contemporary Chamber Players directed by percussionist Eduardo Leandro, he has given several premiere performances and worked extensively with living composers. During the pandemic from 2020-2021, his newly founded piano trio, the Thyme Trio, had given a series of concerts and educational seminars in Taiwan.
Tsung-Yu has attended the fellowship program at the Tanglewood Music Center, Orchestra Mentorship Program at the National Arts Centre in Canada, Sarasota Music Festival, New York String Seminar, and Philadelphia International Music Festival. He has given numerous solo, chamber, and orchestral performances across the United States and Canada, where some of his engagements have included performances at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Dimenna Center in New York, Seiji Ozawa Hall and Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood, Maison Symphonique in Montreal, and Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts in Kingston. He has also shared stages with many artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Kyoko Hashimoto, and flutist Carol Wincenc.
Tsung-Yu holds a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance with Matt Haimovitz at McGill University and a Master of Music degree under the tutelage of Colin Carr at Stony Brook University. In fall 2022, he will continue his Doctoral studies under the guidance of Jonathan Spitz (Principal cellist, New Jersey Symphony) at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he is a full-scholarship recipient and teaching assistant.
Performances
TBA