Carnegie Hall soloist joins Cleveland’s cello section
mainThe highlight of Dane Johansen’s career so far was playing the Elliott Carter cello concerto at Carnegie Hall with James Levine.
He then walked a performance of the Bach suites all the way across northern Spain.
Johansen, now 31, has put all that behind him to join the cello section of what is probably America’s elite orchestra.
Stability has its attractions.
Wonder if an artist of this stature has to go through the standard auditioning procedures…..
Absolutely, and he likely had to compete against several others of equal stature.
Johansen left his position as cellist of the remarkable Escher Quartet (with an established Wigmore Hall relationship) 6/15 after five years. His soloing during this time was incidental to his quartet job.
Strange, Norman that you wouldn’t know or publish this.
The most useful lesson here is to impress upon people – even those who think they know the business – that orchestral musicians are frequently every bit as good as many big-name soloists. And winning an audition for a big orchestra like Cleveland is probably tougher than winning a big international solo competition – in many cases with a better long-term payoff.
Is he married with kids? That would be a strong reason.
No.