Gabriel Prynn

Gabriel Prynn, Cello

Teaching at:

  • 4220, rue Drolet, Montréal
  • Outremont
  • Côte des neiges

Born and raised in the UK, cellist Gabriel Prynn is a founding member of the Trio Fibonacci, which is based in Montreal and celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019.

During his career as a soloist, as a member of the Trio Fibonacci, and as a guest artist with diverse ensembles, notably the Ensemble Alternance in Paris, Gabriel has both resurrected forgotten masterpieces and premiered over sixty new works. Gabriel has performed at Toronto’s St. Lawrence Centre, Merkin Hall in New York, at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris in association with IRCAM and Radio-France, at the Aldeburgh Festival (UK) and at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. He has been both a resident artist and Chamber Music Coordinator at the Atlantic Music Festival (Maine, USA) since 2016.

He is passionate about teaching, and in addition to his position as Visiting Assistant Professor of Cello at Ohio University, USA, from 2016-2019, he has given masterclasses, coached chamber music, and given workshops at such prestigious institutions as the École Normale de Musique (Paris), University of South Africa, University of Curitiba (Brazil), Royal Academy of Music (UK), Conservatory of Belgrade (Serbia), Conservatory of Nagoya (Japan), Hochschule Hanns Eisler (Berlin, Germany) and at the University of Oxford (UK).

Gabriel’s most influential teachers were Clive Greensmith (Tokyo Quartet), David Finckel (Emerson Quartet) and Daniel Domb, Principal Cellist of the Toronto Symphony from 1974 to 2009 and a protégé of Paul Tortelier. Gabriel also received invaluable chamber music coaching from Menahem Pressler, Valentin Erben (Alban Berg Quartet), Arnold Steinhardt (Guarneri Quartet), Richard Young (Vermeer Quartet) and Eberhard Feltz in Berlin.

Gabriel has collaborated with some of the most respected composers of our time, notably Mauricio Kagel, Pascal Dusapin, Jonathan Harvey, Georges Aperghis, Hannah Lash, George Tsontakis, Pierre Jalbert and Henri Pousseur. From a pedagogical point of view, it can be said that new music presents the student musician with unique technical and interpretive challenges. Gabriel’s recent doctoral research on the subject, which won him the Luc Vinet Prize for Excellence from the University of Montreal, has led to his book, Taming the Cello: a handbook of contemporary cello for players, teacher and composers. Excerpts of his book were published in the December 2018 edition of The Strad.