Caleb van der Swaagh
Caleb van der Swaagh is currently a Senior in the Columbia University – Juilliard Joint Program. He studies with Bonnie Hampton at The Juilliard School, and he studies Classics and Medieval & Renaissance Studies at Columbia University. He also studies viola da gamba with Rosamund Morley at Columbia University.
This past summer he attended the Taos School of Music where he studied with The Borromeo String Quartet, The Brentano String Quartet, The St. Lawrence String Quartet, and Robert McDonald. He has also attended the New York String Orchestra Seminar, The American Conservatory at Fontainebleau (where he served as principle cellist under Philippe Entremont), Zephyr International Music Festival, Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, The School for Strings Chamber Music Workshop, and the Mannes Beethoven Institute. He has given chamber music performances in Weill Hall (Carnegie Hall), Alice Tully Hall, The Juilliard Theater, Paul Hall, Miller Theater, Jordan Hall, and the Westbury Gardens. He is principle cellist of the Columbia University Orchestra and in 2008, he performed Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major with the Columbia University Orchestra. On a number of occasions, he has performed with members of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and The Lighthouse Chamber Players and has appeared on “Young Artists Showcase” (WQXR FM 96.3) and “From the Top” (NPR)
Caleb is the recipient of an instrument scholarship from the Virtu Foundation and he is a recipient of study grants from the Children’s Foundation for the Arts and of the Dolan Prize and the Rappaport Prize from Columbia University. He attended Juilliard Pre-college Division on full scholarship where he studied with Katherine Brainard, Darrat Adkins, and Bonnie Hampton. He was one of only four people to graduate from Juilliard Pre-college Division “with distinction” as well as receiving their “Special Senior Achievement.”
Caleb has worked as an assistant chamber coach at The School for Strings Chamber Music Workshop and The Juilliard School Pre-college division.
He has had lessons, coachings, and/or master-classes with Bernard Greenhouse, Timothy Eddy, Paul Neubauer, Steve Doane, Donald Weilerstein, Vivian Hornik-Weilersrtein, Isidore Cohen, Laurie Smukler, Colin Carr, and Paul Katz.
He plays on a Czech cello made by Karel Vavra in 1933