Photo: Warren Wu
After seven wonderful years with the quartet, our cellist Serafim Smigelskiy has decided to step down from the Tesla Quartet in order to focus on new musical activities. During Serafim’s time with the quartet, we recorded two albums, toured across Europe, China, South Korea, and Brazil, and won prizes in international competitions. He brought a boundless energy and enthusiasm to the group and a passion for music of all kinds. Thanks to Serafim’s technical savvy and recording know-how, we were able to produce so much meaningful online content during 2020 and 2021, including our Alternating Currents commissioning project and our Bartók Journey complete quartet cycle. If you want to follow Serafim’s new adventures, you can check out his new electronic music compositions at Faremis Sound, listen to audiobooks he records with his wife, Sierra Prasada, or catch him playing both modern and baroque cello in concert around New York.
And we’re happy to announce that cellist Austin Fisher will be stepping into the role for a year-long appointment beginning in January 2023. An active soloist and chamber musician, Austin has been praised for his “virtuosity, refinement, and style” (South Florida Classical Review). Now based in Brooklyn, NY, Austin is the former Assistant Principal Cello of the Colorado Symphony. He served as Acting Principal Cello for the 2016-17 Season and made his solo debut with the Symphony performing Saint‐Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1. Austin has been the featured soloist in Dvořák’s Silent Woods with the Colorado Symphony and joined the Lakewood Symphony as soloist for a performance of Schumann’s Cello Concerto. He was a regular performer on the Englewood Arts Chamber Music Series, active in Denver’s newly emerging Groupmuse scene, and recently joined the Miami String Quartet for a performance of Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht in Fort Collins. Austin has also performed in concert at Banff’s Rolston Hall with members of the Miró Quartet. He plays on a French cello made by François Caussin, 1830.
We hope you will join us in thanking Serafim for his years of inspiration and dedication as we welcome Austin into the fold. We’re looking forward to our upcoming activities in 2023, including the world premieres of two new string quartets!
Photo: Gabriel Isserlis
Biography
Austin Fisher, the newest member of the Tesla Quartet, resides in Brooklyn, NY and is the former Assistant Principal Cello of the Colorado Symphony. He served as Acting Principal Cello for the 2016-17 Season and made his solo debut with the Symphony performing Saint‐Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1.
Previously, he was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. As a winner of New World’s concerto competition, Austin was a featured soloist in performances of Schumann’s Cello Concerto. Before his time at New World, Austin was Principal Cello of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago where he worked closely with Yo-Yo Ma and musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
An active soloist and chamber musician, Austin has been praised for his “virtuosity, refinement, and style” (South Florida Classical Review). Austin was the featured soloist in Dvorak’s Silent Woods with the Colorado Symphony and joined the Lakewood Symphony as soloist for a performance of Schumann’s Cello Concerto. He was a regular performer on the Englewood Arts Chamber Music Series, active in Denver’s newly emerging Groupmuse scene, and recently joined the Miami String Quartet for a performance of Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht in Fort Collins. Austin has also performed in concert at Banff’s Rolston Hall with members of the Miró Quartet.
Austin has attended festivals and master classes around the world, including IMS Prussia Cove, London Master Classes, and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. He is Co-Principal Cello at the Lakes Area Music Festival in Minnesota, where he returns for his 13th season this summer, and regularly performs with the Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Austin holds a Master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and a Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, studying under Hans Jørgen Jensen and Steven Doane. Important mentors include Yo‐Yo Ma, Silver Ainomäe, and the Miró Quartet. He plays on a French cello made by Francois Caussin, 1830.