Alexander Hersh
Cellist Alexander Hersh has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting and creative talents of his generation. Alexander is a winner of the Pro Musicis International Award (2022), Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant (2020), Astral Artists National Auditions (2019), National Federation of Music Clubs Biennial Young Artist Competition (2019), New York International Artists Association Competition (2017), Schadt String Competition (2016), Hellam Young Artists Competition (2015), and the Luminarts Classical Music Fellowship (2016). Recent and upcoming concerto engagements include the Houston Symphony, Boston Pops, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra, Jefferson Symphony orchestra, Symphony Parnassus, Saint Paul Civic Symphony, and the Dupage Symphony Orchestra. Recital and chamber music engagements, past and present, include Carnegie Weill Hall, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Tri-County Concerts, Marlboro Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, Perlman Music Program, Lucerne Festival Academy, I-M-S Prussia Cove, Amsterdam Cello Biennale, Kneisel Hall, and Domaine Forget.
Hersh is co-artistic director of NEXUS Chamber Music, a collective of international artists committed to stimulating interest in serious chamber music. NEXUS presents a two-week chamber music festival across the city of Chicago each August, featuring new and obscure works alongside standard works of the chamber music canon. NEXUS plays to unusual and intimate venues with the mission of breaking down the barriers that often separate performers from audience members.
A 4th generation string player, Alexander’s parents, Stefan and Roberta, are both active professional violinists. His grandfather, Paul Hersh, is professor of viola and piano at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and his great grandfather, Ralph Hersh, was a member of the WQXR and Stuyvesant String Quartets, and principal violist of the Dallas and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras
Raised in Chicago, Alexander Hersh began playing the cello at the age of 5. He studied with Steve Balderston and Hans Jørgen Jensen, and attended the Academy at the Music Institute of Chicago. Hersh received his B.M. from New England Conservatory (with academic honors) where he was a student of Laurence Lesser and recipient of the Clara M. Friedlaender Scholarship. In May of 2017, he received his M.M. from New England Conservatory where he studied under the tutelage of Paul Katz and Kim Kashkashian. Hersh was a recipient of the Frank Huntington Beebe fund for studies in Berlin during the 2017 – 2018 academic year where he studied with Nicolas Altstaedt at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule for Musik Berlin. He plays a G.B. Rogeri cello on loan through Guarneri Hall NFP and Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins in Chicago, IL.
