The Seattle Symphony has appointed EFE BALTACIGIL principal cello, effective at the start of the 2011-12 season in September. He goes to Seattle from The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he has served as associate principal cello since 2003. Baltacigil was a 2005 winner of Young Concert Artists’ International Auditions, and made his New York recital debut that year as recipient of YCA’s Peter Jay Sharp Prize. His other awards include first prize in concerto competitions in New York and in his native Istanbul, as well as in the Allentown (Pa.) Schadt String Competition. Baltacigil is a member of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society II, and has also performed with Musicians from Marlboro, the Silk Road Project, and in collaboration with such string players as Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Yo-Yo Ma, and Pinchas Zukerman. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Istanbul’s Mimar Sinan University Conservatory and an artist diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Efe Baltacigil photo by Christian Steiner
Posted July 1, 2011
