YVES DHARAMRAJ
CELLO
Captivating his audiences with a “primer of technical feats” (New York Sun), and his warm, lush tone “that might be described as something akin to rich old wood” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), YVES DHARAMRAJ has earned a worldwide reputation as a dynamic cellist who blends an immaculate command of the instrument with deep musical understanding to express his fresh and elegant interpretations.
As soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and teaching artist, the Franco-American cellist enjoys a multifaceted career that takes him to the major stages of the United States and abroad, including appearances at Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center (New York); the Kennedy Center (DC); Orchestra Hall, Ravinia Festival, and Chicago Cultural Center (Chicago); Disney Hall (LA); National Arts Center (Ottawa); Berliner Festspiele; Téatro Nacional (Dominican Republic); Panama Jazz Festival; and the Thailand National Cultural Center (Bangkok).
A top prize winner in the Ima Hogg, Irving M. Klein, Florida Orchestra, Juilliard, and ASTA competitions, Dharamraj has appeared with the orchestras of Houston, Green Bay, Edmonton, Florida, Dominican Republic, and Juilliard, with which he performed William Schuman’s A Song of Orpheus at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the Juilliard School’s Centennial Celebration.
Dharamraj is equally in demand as a chamber musician and has collaborated with artists including Sir Simon Rattle, Itzhak Perlman, Miriam Fried, Christian Tetzlaff, Cho-Liang Lin, Gilbert Kalish, Ralph Kirshbaum, Mischa Dichter, Isabel Leonard, and members of the Emerson, Cleveland, Guarneri, and Orion Quartets.
As an artist also dedicated to the performance of contemporary music, Dharamraj is a founding member of the genre-defying Bohemian Trio and indulges in the avant-garde as cellist of Ne(x)tworks. He followed his passion for teaching artistry, arts advocacy, and engaging new audiences as a fellow of Ensemble Connect (formerly ACJW), a musical initiative between Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, the Weill Music Institute, and the New York City Department of Education. He continues outreach activities as a member of Decoda, the official affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall, and co-founded New Docta International Music Festival in Cordoba, Argentina in 2013 to mentor and nurture Latin American talent.
Dharamraj was a pupil of Aldo Parisot at Yale University where he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in History (Medieval Mediterranean Studies), a Master of Music, and an Artist Diploma. He further studied in Joel Krosnick and Darrett Adkins’s studio at the Juilliard School where he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He has also worked with Paul Katz at the New England Conservatory. Dr. Dharamraj taught cello at Juilliard as assistant to Mr. Krosnick from 2006 to 2009. He plays an 1842 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume cello. In his leisure time, he loves to learn about and taste the great wines of Burgundy and Bordeaux, and is a zealous supporter of the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Arsenal FC.