Basic
First Name:
Samuel
Last Name:
Magill
City:
Greensboro
State:
NC
Country:
USA
First Year:
1973
Last Year:
1975
Biography
Birthday:
8/29/1955
About:
I studied with Larry at Peabody in 1973-74 and then NEC from 1974-75, but graduated with a B.M. from Peabody in 1977. I then went to Shirley Trepel at Rice University where I received a M.M. in 1982. I joined the Houston Symphony in 1979. I left that job in 1986 to pursue a D.M.A. at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory where I studied with Zara Nelsova there and at Aspen. I spent 3 years in the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1988 to 1991, then won the audition for Associate Principal Cello at the Metropolitan Opera in 1991. I was in that position for 7 years, moving to the section in 1998 where I remain. I am about to begin my 29th season. I have a Flute, Cello, and Harp trio called Sono Auros. The flutist is my husband, Lucian Rinando, and the harpist is Mélanie Genin. I have recorded 15 CDs, either solo or chamber. Among them is the world premiere recording of Vernon Duke's Cello Concerto, which was commissioned by Piatigorsky and premiered by him and Koussevitzky in 1946. His real name was Vladimir Dukelsky, born in Russia but changed his name upon coming to the U.S. in 1921. As a popular songwriter he is famous for "April in Paris", "Autumn in New York", and wrote for the Ziegfeld Follies. For this recording Duke's widow, Kay Duke Ingalls, and I traveled to Moscow where the recording was made at Studio 5 of the famed Moscow Radio House with Dmitri Yablonsky, conductor. This all came about because in 2003 the Lincoln Center Library held a centennial celebration of the birth of Vernon Duke. The head of the series called and said they had a copy of the Dukelsky Concerto and would I be willing to learn it and play it with the piano reduction? I said sure, I knew it had been written for Piatigorsky but no one had ever heard it. Very fortunately, Kay was in the audience and right after the concert she told me she wanted me to be the cellist to record it! Another Naxos release was the first ever recording of the Cello Sonata by Franco Alfano. In 2016 Navona Records released my recording of Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata and Artur Schnabel's rarely played Sonata for Solo Cello. I have soloed with orchestras on numerous occasions, including a rare performance last year of Anton Rubinstein's Concerto No. 2, a fabulous work which deserves to be heard.
Current Primary Activity(ies):
Former Associate Principal Cello, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Education:
NEC, Peabody
Degree:
BM, MM
Other Teachers:
Shirley Trepel, Zara Nelsova