Clive Greensmith, one of the most successful British cellists of his generation, has achieved international acclaim as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral principal and teacher. Beginning in 1999, he became cellist in the Tokyo String Quartet, one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world.
A graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, and the Cologne Musikhochschule, Mr. Greensmith was principal cellist of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. As a soloist, he has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Orchestra, and the Seoul Philharmonic, among others. He was the First Prize winner in the Sergio Lorenzi chamber music competition in Trieste, First Prize winner in the Caltanisetta Duo competition and most importantly, second prize in the first ever “Premio Stradivari” held in Cremona, Italy in 1991. As a result of these successes, he performed regularly as a soloist in major recital series all over Europe.
Mr. Greensmith is a frequent guest at many international festivals. In the United States, he was invited to tour with “Musicians from Marlboro” performing at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Kennedy Center in Washington and at the Ravinia “Rising Stars” series in Chicago. The Tokyo Quartet retired in 2013, and Mr. Greensmith moved to Los Angeles and became a faculty member at the The Colburn School.
