David Geber

Cellist David Geber, Vice President of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, has devoted his career to chamber music, solo performance, and the education of young musicians. As a founding member of the American String Quartet, he shared in the ensemble’s 1974 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and Coleman Chamber Music Prize and performed with the quartet for 28 years.

With the American String Quartet, Geber appeared in major musical centers around the world, performing as many as 100 concerts annually. His solo engagements have included the Philadelphia Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Tanglewood, and Aspen. An advocate for contemporary music, he has introduced new works for cello and chamber ensembles, with recordings on labels including Nonesuch, RCA, New World Records, Albany, and CRI.

A member of the Manhattan School of Music faculty since 1984, Geber has also taught and performed at the Music Academy of the West and Tanglewood Music Center. His work with emerging artists extends to master classes and service on international competition juries in Bordeaux and Évian, as well as at Naumburg. He has also served on the board of the American Friends of Kronberg Academy.

Raised in Los Angeles in a family of professional cellists, Geber studied at the Eastman School of Music and Juilliard, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His principal teachers included Ronald Leonard and Claus Adam. He plays a G. B. Ruggieri cello made in Cremona in 1667.