Wendy Warner

Wendy Warner has become one of the world’s leading cellists. The New York Times reported, “Warner’s expressive playing and glowing tone were everywhere a pleasure.” The Chicago Tribune wrote, “If there was a truly prodigious performance during the evening, this was it,” while Strings has hailed her “youthful, surging playing, natural stage presence and almost frightening technique.” Audiences have watched Warner perform on prestigious stages including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall in Boston, Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Paris’ Salle Pleyel, and Berlin’s Philharmonie. She has collaborated with such leading conductors as Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Spivakov, Christoph Eschenbach, Andre Previn, Jesús López-Cobos, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Marin Alsop, Charles Dutoit, Eiji Oue, Neeme Järvi, and Michael Tilson Thomas.
The child of professional musicians and the granddaughter of composer Philip Warner (whose symphony premiered with the NBC Symphony, Leopold Stokowski conducting), Warner began studying the cello at age six under the tutelage of Nell Novak. At age 14 she made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra broadcast on WTTW-TV.

She continued her studies with Rostropovich at the Curtis Institute from which she graduated. In 1991, she made her Carnegie Hall debut performing the Schumann Concerto conducted by Rostropovich. Under Rostropovich’s baton, she performed with the Bamberg Symphony for a 1991 European tour, making her debuts in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Köln, Düsseldorf, and Berlin.  Warner’s discography includes four albums on the Cedille Label. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Warner teaches at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Georgia.