Cellist Frances Borowsky has performed recitals in Rome, Paris, Warsaw, Frankfurt, Cologne, Yekaterinburg, Beijing, Tianjin, Hanoi, Jakarta, and Havana, in major venues such as the Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, and Penderecki European Music Centre. She has been featured as soloist with the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Rheinland-Pfalz Jugend Orchester, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, Polish Youth Symphony, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, and Lebanon Valley College Orchestra.
A native of Baltimore, she grew up in an exceptionally musical family and thus honed her love for solo and chamber music performance. Together with her siblings, Frances performed her New York Debut at Carnegie Weill Hall at the age of twelve as a recipient of the Erick Friedman Prize for Outstanding Young Musicians. In December 2018, Frances performed together with her sister, Elizabeth, at Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium as featured, invited soloists in a celebration of Antonin Dvorak.
Recent performance highlights include concert tours in France, Israel, Lithuania, and Cuba, performing Vivaldi’s Double Cello concerto as soloist with Cecylia Barczyk and the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with her siblings and the Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Schumann’s Cello Concerto and another Vivaldi Double Concerto (with violin) with the Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra, and Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the University of Maryland Repertoire Orchestra.
Frances performs frequently in the Amici Music Series with founder and pianist Dan Weiser, and has performed for the Riversdale Chamber Music Society with faculty from the University of Maryland, Chopin Club in Providence, Tempo New Music Series at UMD, and the UMD Chamber Music Showcase at the Millennium Stage at Kennedy Center. Frances has also collaborated with wind ensemble Quinteto Latino, pianists Brian Ganz and Georges Beriachvili, cellist Amit Peled, violinists Shmuel Ashkenasi and Borisas Traubas, and the Dagilelis Boys Choir of Lithuania.
Her three solo performances at the Keshet Eilon Mastercourse in August 2017 were live-streamed and broadcast around the world. At the 2019 Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, she gave the U.S. premiere of the “Mirrors” cello octet by Richard Birchall together with Festival faculty and selected participants.
Awards include the Grace Clagett Ranney Prize for excellence in chamber music at The Peabody Institute, first prizes in the Mary Graham Lasley Concerto Competition, Levine Chamber Music Competition (as part of Trio INUENDI), Baltimore Music Club Competition, and Peggy Friedman – Yale Gordon Competition, and second prizes in the University of Maryland Concerto Competition, and the Sylvia and Irving H. Cohen Competition.
Throughout her career, Frances has been involved with performing and composing new music. She frequently performs together with her brother (violinist Emmanuel Borowsky) and sister (pianist Elizabeth Borowsky). As Artists-in-Residence at the Dilsberg Castle (Germany) in 2008, she and her siblings co-composed their first trio, “Postcards from Dilsberg,” which is available on DVD and published by ICRecords. Since then, they received several commissions to compose more trios, and frequently include these in performance.
Simultaneous to her performance career, Frances enjoys teaching cellists of all ages and levels. In Fall 2017, she began teaching at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania. Since 2020, Frances has served as Executive Director of the Intermuse International Music Institute and Festival USA, where she teaches cello and chamber music to students from around the world, and collaborates with IIMIF faculty in chamber music performances. Frances is also Co-Director of the Vivaldi String Academy in Towson, MD, and Co-Founder and the Cello Finder of Grace Albert Strings.
Frances has received cello performance degrees under the tutelage of Cecylia Barczyk at Towson University (BM); Amit Peled at The Peabody Conservatory (MM); Alexander Huelshoff and Laurenciu Sbarcea at Folkwang University in Germany (MM); and Eric Kutz at University of Maryland College Park (DMA). Additionally, she has been mentored by prestigious cellists Janos Starker, Johannes Moser, and Michael Flaksman.
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