Amit Peled

The Israeli-born cellist Amit Peled has built an international solo career that encompasses recordings both tied to and independent of his Jewish roots. He has also earned recognition as an educator after joining the faculty of Baltimore’s Peabody Institute, where he became the youngest professor then active at any leading American conservatory.

Born in Israel in 1973, Peled spent his childhood on a kibbutz. His parents had intended for him to study the accordion so he could accompany communal singing, yet at age ten he chose the cello instead in an effort to attract the attention of a classmate. For several years he treated his lessons casually while devoting most of his energy to athletics; standing six feet five inches tall, he even contemplated a professional basketball career. Talent nevertheless surfaced, securing him a place at a specialized music high school in Tel Aviv. There he was chosen as cello soloist with the student orchestra and toured Europe, performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major, Hob. VIIb/1. While completing his mandatory military service he maintained his technique by playing in a string quartet originally formed by Isaac Stern. Although he later received a scholarship to Yale University, he sought out the renowned cellist Bernard Greenhouse upon reaching the United States; Greenhouse accepted him as a full-time pupil and arranged nearby housing on Cape Cod.

Peled’s recital appearances have taken him to Wigmore Hall in London, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Berlin Konzerthaus, and both Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York. He helped establish the Tempest Trio as well as the Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein Trio, and, while continuing to teach at Peabody, he has conducted master classes at leading summer festivals across the United States, Europe, and Israel. His discography on the Centaur label began with the 2009 release The Jewish Soul and continued on the CAP and CTM imprints; in 2019 he issued Bach’s first three suites for solo cello on CTM. Peled performs on the 1733 Gofriller cello once owned by Pablo Casals, an instrument placed in his hands by Casals’s third wife, Marta Casals Istomin. He participated in the 2018 album Mademoiselle, a survey of Nadia Boulanger’s music that received a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Compendium. Onstage he deliberately narrows the distance between performer and listener, exchanging remarks with the audience and, on one occasion, proposing a basketball match.