Jonathan Bagg is Professor of the Practice at Duke University and a member of the Ciompi String Quartet. His career with the Ciompi includes hundreds of concerts across the U.S. and abroad, as well as many recordings. Currently co-Artistic Director of Electric Earth Concerts, he also directed Monadnock Music from 2007-2011, a series of 30 concerts annually, which under his direction was highly regarded by the press and many major foundations. Bagg runs the chamber music program at Duke, where he is Director of Performance in the Music Department and was, for seven years, Director of Undergraduate Studies. Solo recitals have brought him to the Phillips Gallery in Washington DC, Boston’s Jordan Hall, and many other locations along the East Coast; concerto appearances include the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Eastern Music Festival, the Highlands Chamber Music Festival, the Mohawk Trail and Castle Hill festivals. Bagg’s two solo CDs contain music for viola and piano by Robert and Clara Schumann and by Robert Fuchs (1847-1927), on the Centaur label. Contemporary solo works by Arthur Levering, Malcolm Peyton, Robert Ward, and Donald Wheelock are on Bridge, Albany, Centaur and Gasparo Records. Collaborations include many notable musicians, such as pianists Menahem Pressler and Bella Davidovich, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon, and the Tokyo and Borromeo Quartets.
In reviews of his solo playing, The Washington Post has noted his “total confidence, rock-solid technique and a deep sensitivity,” while American Record Guide recognizes “a violist who approaches the music with intelligence, passion, and clarity.” Before moving to Duke he performed with many of New England’s most prominent musical organizations, appearing often with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn Society, and serving as principal viola for the New Hampshire Symphony Orchestra. He graduated with honors from both Yale University (BA) and the New England Conservatory (MM), where he was a student of Steven Ansell and Walter Trampler.
