Matthew Christakos Appointed Associate Principal Cello of the New York Philharmonic

Curtis congratulates cellist Matthew Christakos, Joseph Druian Fellow and student of Peter Wiley and Gary Hoffman, who has been appointed associate principal cello of the New York Philharmonic as of January 2024. Mr. Christakos entered Curtis in 2019, studying with Peter Wiley and Gary Hoffman, and has served as principal cello of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. 

The Toronto native won first prize at the 2019 Canada Council for the Arts Michael Measures Prize, second prize in the 2019 Canadian Music Competition’s Stepping Stone, and first prize at the 2017 Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival President’s Trophy Competition. CBC Music included him in their 2019 edition of “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30.”

Before coming to Curtis, Mr. Christakos studied in Toronto at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists, where he won the concerto competition and performed as a soloist with the Academy Chamber Orchestra. In 2019 he toured Canada and Spain as a featured soloist with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. He is an alumnus of the Morningside Music Bridge program in Boston. He began playing cello at age four and previously studied with David Hetherington and Hans Jørgen Jensen.

Read more at The Violin Channel and view the current New York Philharmonic roster.