David Hetherington Cello

A native of St. Catharines Ontario, David Hetherington is currently the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Assistant Principal Cellist. He received his musical training at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto, and furthered his cello studies in New York, Italy and Germany with Claus Adam, André Navarra and Paul Tortelier.

A member of the TSO since 1970, Mr. Hetherington also teaches at the Glenn Gould School and the University of Toronto. He coaches the cello sections of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and is Music Director of the Inter-Provincial Music Camp near Parry Sound, Ontario.

As soloist, Mr. Hetherington has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the Niagara Symphony, the Symphony Orchestra of Canada, New Music Concerts and Soundstreams Canada as well as recitals at the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music.

As chamber musician, he has toured Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe, appeared at the Ottawa, Elora, Sweetwater and Kincardine Music Festivals and performed with many internationally renowned artists such as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Emmanuel Ax, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Measha Brueggergosman, James Ehnes, Heinz Holliger and Arnold Steinhardt.

Mr. Hetherington is a founding member of the Amici Chamber Ensemble which presents an annual series of concerts at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. With Amici he has recorded ten discs for Summit Records, Naxos and CBC records. Their first CD won a Juno award for Chan Ka Nin’s Among Friends which was written for Amici.

He is also a founding member of the string quartet Accordes which performs regularly for New Music Concerts and other contemporary music organizations. In 2001, the Canadian Music Centre, through Centrediscs, released Accordes’ recording of Harry Somers’ String Quartets, for which it received a Juno Award nomination. Accordes has also recorded works by several other Canadian composers such as Norma Beecroft, David Eagle, Harry Freedman, Hope Lee, Alexina Louie and Jean Papineau-Couture.

Mr. Hetherington has appeared on several recordings for the CBC and for Centrediscs with whom he made the Canadian premiere recording of Talivaldis Kenins’ prize-winning cello sonata. He has been active in performing and recording much contemporary music and has recorded solo cello pieces by Alice Ho, Chan Ka Nin (CBC Records) and Elliot Carter (Naxos). In addition, he has collaborated personally with many other composers such as Brian Cherney, Henri Duttilleux, Heinz Holliger, Helmut Lachenman, Magnus Lindberg and Alexina Louie for performances of their works for solo cello. All of these performances were recorded for broadcast by the CBC.

Mr. Hetherington plays a cello made in 1695 by Giovanni Battista Grancino.

2009/10 Concerts
Brasil