ModernWorks: Madeleine Shapiro biography

Called a "cello innovator" by Time Out New York, cellist Madeleine Shapiro has been a recognized figure in the field of contemporary music for three decades; as a cellist, producer of chamber music concerts, and as a teacher. She is the founding director of ModernWorks, an ensemble formed in 1997 to perform and commission recent chamber works for strings; performs as a solo recitalist throughout the United States, Europe and Latin America, and directs the Contemporary Music Ensemble at the prestigious Mannes College of Music.

Madeleine has appeared as a recitalist at numerous venues both in the United States and abroad. Her concerts have included premiere performances of recent works for cello, and cello and electronics, many of which were written especially for her by a wide variety of American, European and Asian composers. She is a recipient of two Encore Awards from the American Composers Forum, two Meet the Composer Commissioning Awards and a Barlow Commission, all to assist in the premieres of new works. Recent activities include a five day residency in Kansas City, MO which included performances, masterclasses and workshops and a three day residency at Michigan State University. Other recent appearances include a concert of works for cello and electronics at the avant-garde Logos Foundation in Ghent, Belgium and five tours of Italy with performances at The American Academy in Rome and the Nuovi Spazi Musicali festival in Rome (three seasons), Rivegauche Concerti in Turin (three seasons); and masterclasses and workshops at the conservatories of Parma and Castelfranco Veneto. Other recent appearances include the Spark Festival of Electro-Acoustic Music (MN), Technosonics (UVA Charlottesville), the Miami ISCM Festival (3 seasons), and colleges in the Northeast and Midwest United States including both the Forefront Series and 27th Voices of New Music and Art Festival at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and the Take 5 series at University of Maryland, College Park. Madeleine has appeared twice in recital at the Instituto Brazil-Estados Unidos in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and participated in the 3rd and 5th International Cello Encounters, also in Rio de Janeiro. She has been heard numerous times on National Public Radio, as well as WNYC and Belgian National Radio.

From 1974-1996, Madeleine was the cellist and co-director of The New Music Consort, an ensemble specializing in the performance of twentieth century music. As co-director of the Consort, Madeleine was the recipient of a number of awards and grants including the 1993 First Prize in Adventurous Programming awarded by ASCAP-Chamber Music America. With the Consort, Madeleine toured the United States and Europe, and participated in numerous premiere performances of works by such eminent composers as Milton Babbitt, John Cage, Charles Wuorinen and Mario Davidovsky as well as emerging American, European and Asian composers. In addition to its annual New York concert series, Madeleine's appearances with the Consort include such prestigious festivals as the "Making Music Together Festival" Moscow, Russia, the Ravinnia Festival (Chicago), the Aki Festival (Cleveland, Ohio), the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) and the Guggenheim Museum (New York City).

In addition to her performing schedule, Madeleine continues as an adjunct professor at the Mannes College of Music, New York City, where she directs the Contemporary Music Ensemble and teaches classes in the performance practice of contemporary music. She has held the Chair of Johnson Distinguished Visiting Professor at Middlebury College, Vermont. Madeleine recently gave a masterclass to the string section of the prestigious training orchestra New World Symphony in Miami, FLA; and has also taught masterclasses in colleges and universities including University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Washington and Lee University (VA); James Madison University, Virginia; SUNY Potsdam, University of Maryland, College Park; Manhattan School of Music, Oberlin College, CUNY Graduate Center, Furman University (N.C.), Wayne State University, New York University, Rutgers University, The National Academy of Sciences, Huntington College (IN), Michigan State University, East Lansing, and University of Florida, Coral Gables.

Madeleine's solo CD Electricity:Works for Cello and Electronics has been released by Albany Records. She has also recorded for Naxos, New World Records, CRI, Mode and Harvestworks.

She plays a Betts cello c. 1790