ANTHONY ROSS, Principal Cello, Minnesota Orchestra
Principal Cello Anthony Ross joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1988 and assumed the principal cello post in 1991. He has been a soloist many times with the Orchestra, performing concertos by Schumann, Dvořák, Victor Herbert, James MacMillan, Beethoven, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, Bloch, and Shostakovich, as well as many chamber works. He was most recently featured as soloist in January 2018 performing Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme.
In recent seasons Ross has performed Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante for Cello and Orchestra, the Walton Cello Concerto and the Brahms Double Concerto, the latter alongside former First Associate Concertmaster Sarah Kwak. In April 2014 he was soloist in performances of Eric Whitacre’s The River Cam, with the composer conducting. At Sommerfest 2014 he performed Prokofiev’s Sonata for Cello and Piano with Sommerfest Artistic Director Andrew Litton.
Before joining the Minnesota Orchestra, Ross was principal cello of the Rochester Philharmonic. Away from Orchestra Hall, he is active as a chamber musician, festival performer and educator. He is a member of Accordo, a chamber group made up of principal string players from the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He also performs with the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota. He has appeared in the Mostly Mozart, Music in the Vineyards, Cactus Pear (San Antonio), Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society (Madison) and Orcas Island festivals, and has performed on stages from Pensacola, Florida, to Rhodes, Greece. He has taught at the Eastman School of Music, the Aspen Festival and the Grand Teton orchestra seminar.
Ross’ recordings include Bernstein’s Three Meditations with the Minnesota Orchestra under Eiji Oue, the George Lloyd Cello Concerto with the Albany Symphony under David Alan Miller, and works of Rachmaninoff and Elliott Carter for Boston Records.
A graduate of Indiana University, Ross earned a master’s degree at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. In 1982 he was awarded the bronze medal at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition, and he received McKnight Fellowships in 2001 and 2005. Together with his wife Beth Rapier, Ross produces the annual Harmony for Habitats benefit concert at St. John’s Episcopal Church in south Minneapolis.
BETH RAPIER, Cello, Minnesota Orchestra
Beth Rapier joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1986 and served as assistant principal cello from 1991 until 2022, when she chose to move into the core of the cello section. She has been a featured soloist with the Orchestra in works by Haydn, David Ott and Kevin Puts, the latter being the world premiere of his Sinfonia Concertante in 2006. Throughout her tenure with the Orchestra she has performed regularly at its Sommerfest, MacPhail and Target Atrium Chamber Music concerts.
An accomplished chamber musician, Rapier won top awards at several competitions in the U.S. and Canada and has performed quartets throughout Europe, Asia and the U.S. She is a regular guest at chamber music festivals, including Cactus Pear, Music in the Vineyards, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, and Orcas Island. Other appearances include the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Mainly Mozart (San Diego), Pensacola Chamber Music Festival, Barge Music (New York City), Bing Series (Los Angeles), Festival Mozart (Lille, France), and the Santa Barbara and MET Museum Chamber Music Series.
Rapier was a founding member of the Rosalyra String Quartet, which received a McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowship and performed for nearly 20 years at venues from the Twin Cities to Boston, New York City and France. With the Rosalyra she recorded works by Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Fauré and Shostakovich for Boston Records and Artegra labels. Most recently, with singer Timothy Jones, she recorded settings of Five Spirituals by James Scott Ballentine for Baritone and Cello.
Born into a family of distinguished musicians, Rapier began her professional career at age 16 as an apprentice with the Louisville Orchestra. After studies at Indiana University and in New York with Janos Starker, Fritz Magg and Timothy Eddy, she joined the Apple Hill Chamber Players of New Hampshire for two seasons of performances and extensive touring throughout New England and California.
In 2005 Rapier was again named winner of a McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowship for her performance of cello duos with her husband Anthony Ross, principal cello of the Minnesota Orchestra. Together, the duo has organized numerous benefit concerts for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, the American Refugee Committee and Twin Cities R!SE.
NATSUKI KUMAGAI, First Violin, Minnesota Orchestra
Natsuki Kumagai joined the Minnesota Orchestra second violin section in the 2017-18 season and won a position in the first violin section in 2019. Born and raised in Chicago, she has served in numerous concertmaster positions at orchestras including the New World Symphony, New York String Orchestra Seminar and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, where she was awarded the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize. She was also a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra. She is an active chamber musician, winning prizes at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Saint Paul Chamber Music Competition and Society of American Musicians Competition. She was a member of the New Fromm Players, the quartet-in-residence for contemporary music at the Tanglewood Institute, performing world and U.S. premieres of works by world-renowned composers Marc Neikrug and Joseph Phibbs.
Kumagai attended the New England Conservatory in Boston, where she studied with Boston Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster Malcolm Lowe. Her previous teachers include Almita and Roland Vamos and Marko Dreher at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy program. She received her master’s degree at the Juilliard School studying with Ida Kavafian and was the recipient of the H. & E. Kivekas Scholarship and the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship.
