American cellist Natasha Farny has distinguished herself as a talented artist of significant versatility, sensitivity, and experience. An accomplished soloist, Ms. Farny has performed with such orchestras as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and several orchestras throughout New York state. She has performed solo and chamber music tours across Germany, the Czech Republic, and Brazil, and has played at distinguished national concert series throughout the United States, including Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Brooklyn’s Bargemusic “Here and Now” Series, Florida’s BIG ARTS Sanibel series, Maryland’s Resonance series, and the Camerata Musica series in Washington State. Ms. Farny has performed live on radio programs including WFMT’s “Live from WFMT” in Chicago, Illinois, and WXXI’s “Live from Hochstein” series in Rochester, New York. She has appeared at international festivals such as the Czech Republic’s Dvorak Society American Spring Festival, Italy’s Brancaleoni International Music Festival, and American festivals that include the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, National Music Festival (MD), Colorado Music Festival, and Michigan’s Bay View Music Festival. Ms. Farny released her debut solo CD of French cello music in January 2020 on the Centaur label.
Eager for new pathways, Ms. Farny has experimented with many different musical styles and instruments. She learned the Theremin cello during collaborations with the Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble, the London Sinfonietta, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. The multi-city performance project of the complete works of Edgard Varèse was held at the Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Festival d’Automne (Paris), the Southbank Centre (London), and at the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City. She took a course in Baroque cello, and has delved into jazz improvisation with Fredonia string colleagues, performing as a member of FredFour, a string quartet with double bass. Ms. Farny is also active as a new music performer. She was recognized with an “Encore Grant” in 2012 from the American Composers Forum performing music by Scott Wheeler, and she completed a residency in 2017 at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute which resulted in performances of a new work by Caroline Mallonee. She premiered a new work for solo cello by Jorge Variego at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in the summer of 2019 and in 2022, began performing the new Double Concerto by Avner Dorman, written for her Duo Ekstasis. Additional research interests include cataloging, promoting, and performing works for cello by women composers, which resulted in a paper published in the College Music Symposium.
Natasha Farny has been invited to give master classes at various institutions, including Weimar’s Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Germany, the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Italy, and the Eastman School of Music. As Professor of Cello at the School of Music at the State University of New York in Fredonia, she oversees the Fredonia cello choir and coordinates the string chamber music program. Ms. Farny has been honored there with several awards, including grants from the Faculty Student Association and the United University Professions, as well as the Hagan Young Scholar Artist Award for outstanding artistic performance and the Kasling Memorial Lecture Award.
Natasha Farny began her college career at the Curtis Institute of Music and finished at Yale University, with a B.A. in Humanities. She received a master of music degree from the Eastman School of Music, and a doctorate of musical arts degree from The Juilliard School.