Joshua Halpern is a cellist always looking to blur the boundaries between music and the world around him. As founder and artistic director of the Cultural Caravan, he mobilized artists and local businesses from all over Boulder county and its outlying areas to confront the dilemmas facing the community in the wake of Covid-19. He has performed in esteemed venues on five continents, from Carnegie Hall to the Berlin Philharmonie, but he’s most at home performing Bach in bars and even prisons. Whether you’re a seasoned fan of classical music, or you’ve never heard a cello in concert before, his recital at the Stewart Auditorium will confound your expectations and bring fresh perspective to the possibilities of the cello, and of the solo recital.

Tickets

$18 General Admission / $15 Students & Seniors / $12 Museum Members

About the Program

The Cultural Caravan offers up its inaugural June Festival, including:

• seven main stage concerts at co-presenting venues including the Dairy Arts Center, the ATLAS Institute at CU, and the Longmont Museum
• free pop-up concerts in collaboration with dozens of local businesses and community organizations across Boulder County
• free open rehearsals, where community members witness the collaborative process as it unfolds

In its 2021 season, the Cultural Caravan collaborated with 20+ local businesses and community organizations to present over 30 local artists silenced by Covid-19, encouraging community support for the arts and local businesses during a desperate time. You can find more information at www.culturalcaravan.org.

Presented in collaboration with the Boulder Food Rescue and the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado.

About Joshua Halpern

Joshua Halpern has appeared on stages around the world as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral principal cellist. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists including Jonathan Biss, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Roberto Díaz, Viviane Hagner, Gary Hoffman, Kim Kashkashian, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Anthony McGill, Olli Mustonen, and Itzhak Perlman. He has appeared at music festivals including the Ravinia Steans Institute, the Perlman Chamber Music Workshop, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Taos School of Music, La Jolla Summerfest, Musikiwest, and Krzyzowa-Music. During the 2019 season he served as guest principal cello of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, including tours to Germany, Taiwan, and China, and in 2020 he served as cellist with the Rolston Quartet.

Josh completed his Artist Diploma at The Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he performed throughout the United States, Europe and Latin America with Curtis On Tour, and served as principal cello of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra during the 2016/17 season. At Curtis he studied with Carter Brey and Peter Wiley. As an undergraduate at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, he studied with Desmond Hoebig and won the school’s concerto competition. He is currently a member of the Karajan Akademie of the Berliner Philharmoniker, in which he plays as a member of the Berlin Philharmonic and is mentored by Ludwig Quandt.

In 2018, Josh curated a solo tour across Colorado to bring classical music to unexpected places, including the state penitentiary, small-town saloons, bicycle shops, and more. Since then, he has continued bringing music to unique spaces, fostering connection and conversation with all types of people along the way. In 2021, Josh founded the Cultural Caravan in Boulder, CO, a nonprofit bringing together artists and local businesses to revitalize the community in the wake of the pandemic. In its inaugural spring/summer season, the Caravan presented 25 concerts through which Josh collaborated with over 20 local businesses and more than 30 artists, including not only his fellow classical artists, but also world-class folk musicians, Venezuelan jazz performers, Zimbabwean Afrofusion bands, and more.

As a teacher, Josh has presented master classes throughout the United States and South America and has taught at Curtis Summerfest and the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. Josh is on the faculty at the Brooklyn School of Music, and he lives in Berlin. 

Museum Presents

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