Faculty Chair Profile

Richard Hirschl
NMS Cello Faculty Chair
Cello, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Richard Hirschl is a native of Washington, Missouri, where he grew up in a musical family. He began early music lessons with his mother, a piano teacher, but, by the age of ten, he had become interested in his father's hobby, the cello. Although his father is an amateur cellist, Richard says he is a natural player and an excellent teacher. 

As his cello studies progressed, he began lessons with Saint Louis Symphony member Savely Schuster, who encouraged Richard to pursue music professionally by sending him to the eminent soloist and pedagogue Leonard Rose. When a junior in high school, Richard moved to a boarding school in New York to facilitate his studies with Rose and Channing Robbins at the Juilliard School. The recipient of an honorary scholarship, he received both bachelor's (1987) and master's (1988) degrees from Juilliard. After graduation, he served as an assistant teacher to Robbins for one year. In 1989 he was appointed to the cello section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Sir Georg Solti. 

In1988, Richard made his New York debut at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center playing Barber's Concerto with Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and the Juilliard Orchestra. Since then, he has played Milhaud's Concerto with Jens Nygaard and the Jupiter Symphony in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. In addition to these and other appearances with orchestras, he performs extensively as a recitalist and chamber musician. 

Richard is on the faculty of New Music School and has a large class of private students. He lives with his wife, Nancy, in a downtown high-rise.

If you would like to contact Mr. Hirschl, please email him at richardhirschl@newmusicschool.com.