Primary Suzuki teachers: Nancy Hair, Carol Tarr, Alice Vierra, Rodney Farrar, Pamela Devenport, John Kendall
Yumi Kendall joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in September 2004 as Assistant Principal cellist upon graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music. While at Curtis, Ms. Kendall studied with the late David Soyer and Peter Wiley of the Guarneri Quartet.
Ms. Kendall began studying cello at the age of five following the Suzuki method; made her recital debut at age seven in Boulder, Colorado; and, following the completion of the Suzuki method, continued to study for seven years with National Symphony Orchestra Principal cellist David Hardy. At age 16, Ms. Kendall made her solo debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. upon winning the NSO Youth Competition.
Ms. Kendall’s participation in summer festivals includes Music from Angel Fire, Verbier Festival, Marlboro, touring with Musicians from Marlboro, Taos School of Music, Kingston Chamber Music Festival, and Carnegie Hall’s Emerson String Quartet Workshop. Ms. Kendall is founding cellist of the Dryden String Quartet, which formed in 2001, and has appeared in performance at the Dutch and German Embassies, Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Reading Chamber Music Society, Schneider Concert Series, Curtis Alumni recital series, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Ms. Kendall regularly appears with her Philadelphia Orchestra colleagues in chamber music in their Kimmel Center home, in Orchestra residencies nationally and internationally, and, on one occasion, spontaneously on an airplane while delayed on the tarmac in Beijing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFhYPsgroMk
Ms. Kendall has served on the faculties of the National Orchestral Institute, New York State School for Orchestral Studies, the Philadelphia International Music Festival, Brevard Music Center, and Miami Summer Music Festival; serves as mentor for the Curtis Institute’s new Community Artists Program, and maintains a private teaching studio. Ms. Kendall was the 2013 recipient of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s C. Hartman Kuhn Award, given annually to “the member of the Philadelphia Orchestra who has shown ability and enterprise of such character as to enhance the standards and reputation of The Philadelphia Orchestra.”