Francisco Vila, Cello

Biography

Ecuadorian cellist Francisco Vila is an emerging soloist and chamber musician. Concert activities have taken him to many of the world’s venues, including Zankel Hall and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center and Disney Hall in Los Angeles; Harvard University, Boston's Seully Hall, Brussels’ Flagey Concert Hall as soloist with the Liège Royal Philharmonic and Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, Santander Festival Orchestra and others. Vila´s mentors were Janos Starker, Sharon Robinson, Gary Hoffman and Menahem Pressler (chamber music). Collaborations include those with Nobuko Imai, Zakhar Bron, Wolfram Christ, Gary Hoffman, Michel Arrignon, Sunwook Kim, and others.  Vila was 2nd prize laureate at the 15th Annual Sphinx Competition.  He plays a 1790 Vincenzo Panormo cello, the “ex-Schiffer ex-Starker” Edward Tubbs bow, and a Vigneron bow on generous loan from the Saul B. and Naomi R. Cohen Foundation and the Velge, Croonenberg and Solvay families, respectively.  2014 performances will take Vila to Japan with Nobuko Imai, to South America with Macondo Chamber Players and to several venues around the world in recitals with Maria João Pires. Most recently he’s been invited to the Ravinia Festival Steans Music Institute in summer of 2014, which is an honor.