For immediate release:
June 22, 2022
Contact: Julie Goetz, Director of Communications
(412) 905-9058
jgoetz@pittsburghsymphony.org
Media Assets here→
PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA APPOINTS
DAVID MCCARROLL AS CONCERTMASTER
PITTSBURGH—Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Music Director Manfred Honeck with President and CEO Melia Tourangeau are thrilled to announce that David McCarroll has been appointed concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, holding the Rachel Mellon Walton Concertmaster Chair, beginning with the 2022-2023 season. McCarroll will join the Orchestra as concertmaster for its European tour in August 2022 and will first appear in Pittsburgh as concertmaster at the Orchestra's gala concert in September that opens the 2022-2023 season.
David McCarroll has been described as “a violinist of mature musicality and deep understanding of his repertoire whose playing is distinguished by clarity of form and line” by Musik Heute. He performs regularly in the great concert halls around the world appearing with major orchestras. An active chamber musician, he regularly plays at festivals including Marlboro, Lucerne, and Schubertiade. Recent performances have included Stravinsky’s violin concerto at the Konzerthaus Berlin, touring with Musicians from Marlboro, and performances of György Kurtág’s “Kafka Fragments” for violin and soprano. From 2015-2022, he was the violinist of the Vienna Piano Trio, with whom he toured and recorded extensively. A resident ensemble of the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Trio’s recording of the complete Brahms piano trios won the 2017 Echo Klassik award, and in 2020 the Trio’s Beethoven recording received an Opus Klassik award. David McCarroll is a native of Santa Rosa, California, and received his Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and an Artist Diploma from the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin. He was the winner of the 2012 European Young Concert Artists Auditions and plays on an A&J Gagliano violin made in 1761.
“It was clear to me from the first opportunity I had to work with David that he possessed all the characteristics we have been looking for in a great concertmaster for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Over our search, which was led by Mary Persin, our Vice President of Artistic Planning, we saw many outstanding candidates, but David made an immediate and profound impression. Together with our Concertmaster Committee, we voted unanimously to offer him the job,“ said Manfred Honeck, Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. “David is an exceptional leader, a brilliant technician, an accomplished chamber musician who plays with great musicality and a generous and character-filled tone. He is respected throughout our industry as a world-class violinist who makes a deep impact wherever he plays. He will bring great leadership through his collegial spirit and superb musicianship. I am excited for our Pittsburgh audience to get to know him both musically and personally and I know that he will enrich the musical life of our city through our work together with the orchestra. I am thrilled that David is joining us and look forward to making music together for many years to come."
“We are delighted to welcome David McCarroll to the Pittsburgh Symphony after a long and extensive search and audition process. Winning this audition is a notable endorsement of confidence by Manfred Honeck, the musicians and leadership,” said Melia Tourangeau, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
About David McCarroll
David McCarroll has been described as “a violinist of mature musicality and deep understanding of his repertoire whose playing is distinguished by clarity of form and line” by Musik Heute. Winner of the 2012 European Young Concert Artists Auditions and Silver Medalist at the Klein International Competition, he made his concerto debut with the London Mozart Players in 2002 and has since appeared with orchestras including Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich (Simone Young, Grafenegg), Hong Kong Sinfonietta (Christoph Poppen), Santa Rosa Symphony, Mendocino Festival Orchestra, and Philharmonie Zuidnederland.
He performs regularly in major concert halls including the Konzerthaus Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, 92nd Street Y, and Carnegie Hall. His performances have been broadcast on radio stations including WGBH Boston, WQXR New York, National Public Radio, Ö1, BR-Klassik and the BBC.
Recent performances have included Stravinsky’s violin concerto at the Konzerthaus Berlin, touring with Musicians from Marlboro, and performances of György Kurtág’s “Kafka Fragments” for violin and soprano. In 2015, he joined the Vienna Piano Trio, with whom he has toured and recorded extensively. The Trio’s recording of the complete Brahms piano trios won the 2017 Echo Klassik award, and in 2020 the Trio’s Beethoven recording received an Opus Klassik award.
An active chamber musician, he regularly plays at festivals including Marlboro, Schubertiade, Heidelberger Frühling, Grafenegg, Lucerne Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Siete Lagos (Argentina), ChamberFest Cleveland, Portland Chamber Music Festival, and with the Israeli Chamber Project. He has performed in many chamber ensembles with musicians including Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Miriam Fried, Pamela Frank, Anthony Marwood, Donald Weilerstein, Kim Kashkashian, Roger Tapping, Marcy Rosen, Peter Wiley, Charles Neidich, Jörg Widmann, and Radovan Vlatković.
David was born in Santa Rosa, California in 1986 and began studying the violin with Helen Payne Sloat at the age of four. At eight, he attended the Crowden School of Music in Berkeley studying with Anne Crowden. When David was 13, he received an invitation to join an international group of 60 young music students at the Yehudi Menuhin School outside London where he studied for five years with Simon Fischer. David continued his studies with Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston receiving a Master’s degree and with Antje Weithaas in the Konzertexamen (Artist Diploma) program at the Hanns Eisler Academy in Berlin.
In addition to music, David maintains an active interest in social concerns including the needs of those impacted by the AIDS pandemic and is currently working on projects of the Starcross Community to help AIDS orphans in Africa. He has played in programs encouraging world peace promoted by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and has given benefit concerts for Doctors Without Borders. With other members of his family, David has worked to get strings to young music students in Cuba where such items are very difficult to obtain. David plays a 1761 violin made by A&J Gagliano.