Christian Colberg, viola performance

Christian Colberg presents a master class focused on viola performance. This program is free and open to the public, made possible by the Sally Fleming Master Class Series Fund.

ABOUT THE GUEST ARTIST

CHRISTIAN COLBERG is currently the Principal Viola of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Prior to joining the CSO, he was the Assistant Principal Viola of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Colberg is also an Artist-Faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and School, a Valade Fellow at the Interlochen Center for the Arts and is Principal Viola at the Bellingham Festival of Music.

Colberg began his musical studies at the age of four in his native Puerto Rico. Recipient of numerous awards including the Alpha Delta Kappa Foundation Fine Arts grant, Colberg was honored by the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico in 1985, and again by the Senate in 1994 for his achievements in the classical music field. He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of Music. His main teachers include Alexander Schneider, Saul Ovcharov, Charles Libov and Shirley Givens. Mr. Colberg has also been on the violin faculty of the Peabody Institute of Music and on the viola faculty of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

As an active chamber musician, Mr. Colberg has collaborated with such artists as, Marvin Hamlish, Gary Karr, Milton Katims, Augustin Hadelich, Samuel Sanders, Joseph Silverstein, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, the Muir, Cypress and Ariel String Quartets and with the Silk Road Festival in China.

In October 2018, Mr. Colberg performed his own Viola Concerto, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He has performed this work with numerous orchestras, including the Puerto Rico Conservatory Orchestra and Música de Cámara in New York City. The second movement of his concerto was used as the competition piece for the 2014 Primrose International Viola Competition and the third movement was used in the Sphinx competition of 2023. In June of 2018, The Rant – For Two Violas, was also premiered at the International Viola Congress in Los Angeles. His newest compositions for string quartet and drums was released in September of 2022 on a new album titled Talking to Myself in which he also played all the parts.