Amanda Forsyth

Amanda Forsyth (born 1966) is a Juno Award-winning Canadian cellist, and is the principal cello of the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Biography

Daughter of composer Malcolm Forsyth, Forsyth came to Canada from South Africa at two years of age and began playing the cello at the age of three. She became a protégé of William Pleeth in London and later studied with Harvey Shapiro at the Juilliard School in New York and with Lynn Harrell in Los Angeles. After two seasons with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra she became the youngest principal ever selected by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra where she remained for six years. In 1999, Forsyth was appointed principal cello of the National Arts Centre Orchestra where she is also featured as a soloist each season.

Forsyth is recognised as an eminent recitalist, soloist and chamber musician appearing with leading orchestras and prestigious chamber music festivals worldwide.

Forsyth and her husband, violinist Pinchas Zukerman, appear frequently together as soloists. She has also collaborated with artists who include Lynn Harrell, Yo-Yo Ma, Garrick Ohlsson, Jon Kimura Parker, Yefim Bronfman, Joseph Kalichstein, Jaime Laredo, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, and Louis Lortie.

Forsyth is the cellist of the Zukerman Chamber Players, which has toured worldwide since 2003. She also recently collaborated with Wynton Marsalis in New York, recording the sound track for Ken Burns’ 7-part television film about World War II to be produced for SBS.

There has been great criticism on Forsyth's behavior at a Chicago performance with the Highland Park Strings. At one point of the Elgar Cello Concerto, the music came to a stop, and people who have seen the youtube video clip (which has since been taken off for copyright reasons by Amanda Forsyth) say she skipped several measures in the music. Forsyth went to the conductor and flipped through his score and pointed to where they 'actually' were and rolled her eyes in complete disgust as she sat back down. [http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=4a16eb42-b58e-4dda-9527-8e5a59f020c8&p=1]

Amanda Forsyth performs on a 1699 cello by Carlo Giuseppe Testore.

elected recordings

* Soaring with Agamemnon
* Electra Rising: The Music of Malcolm Forsyth
* Zukerman Conducts Mozart
* American Journey
* Palm Court Encores
* Mozart: Flute Quartets