Natasha Brofsky | Faculty Portrait

Cello Faculty

Natasha Brofsky started learning to read music when she was about 4 and was “fiddling around” on the piano and recorder. By 6 she’d started cello lessons, and at 12 she’d decided to become a musician, a decision that led her to enroll in Pre-College. Brofsky received her bachelor’s and master’s in cello performance at Eastman and Mannes, respectively; she was also a Fulbright scholar in London. She and her husband, Juilliard String Quartet violist and fellow faculty member Roger Tapping, have two daughters, Cordelia (21) and Eleanor (16). Having joined the Juilliard faculty in 2012, she’s also taught at the Barratt-Due Institute in Oslo and the New England Conservatory as well as at the Yellow Barn and Kneisel Hall festivals. She’s been a member of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and the Peabody Trio.

Who was the teacher who most inspired you when you were growing up?
It’s hard to pick one since I’ve been fortunate to have had many wonderful teachers, but the two who inspired me first were my father and my brother, both wonderful musicians. I always wanted to listen to what my brother was listening to because he was so curious about all genres of music. He listens for authenticity no matter what, and that continues to inspire me.

We’re celebrating the Pre-College centennial this year—what was your path to Pre-College and do you have a favorite Pre-College memory?
Growing up in New York City, I knew that it was a place where there were a lot of talented people and a high level of playing. I loved playing in the Pre-College Orchestra and in chamber groups with my friends, but getting to Pre-College Orchestra rehearsal at 8:30 in the morning after an evening of reading and rehearsing chamber music with friends was always a challenge!

Tell us about your Chamber Music and Community Engagement class.
I teach the Chamber Music and Community Engagement class with my friend and colleague Catherine Cho (BM ’92, MM ’94, violin). Inspired by the examples of the nonprofit Music for Food, a national musician-led initiative to fight hunger (I serve as the artistic director for the New York City chapter) and faculty member Carol Rodland’s (Pre-College ’86; BM ’91, MM ’96, viola) If Music Be the Food series, we want to show students how classical musicians can make a difference in their communities. The class has four chamber groups who are committed to using music as an agent for social change. Each group picks a cause that they feel passionate about. This year we have a group working on climate change, a group working with refugees, another developing a program for children’s hospitals, and the fourth is working with people combating addiction. This is the third year we have taught the class and we are excited that the school is supporting the important work that Juilliard students are doing in the community through our class and in the school’s Community Engagement program.

What would people be surprised to know about you?
I’m good at winter sports!

What are you reading/listening to/following/watching?
I read too much political news, but I’m also reading an interesting book of short stories from the 1930s by the Russian writer Nina Berberova. These days I listen to my daughters sing as well as to the Amadeus Quartet.

If you weren’t in the career you are in, what would you be?
I’d be a historian.

Any meal, prepared by anyone, what would it be?
A Persian feast.

What question do you always get asked?
Do you speak Russian? (I don’t, but I do speak Norwegian.)

What do you wish you’d get asked?
How can my child study music?

Is there anything you’d like to add?
I find it inspiring and continually rejuvenating to be around young people who are at an exciting but challenging point in their lives. As they strive to become artists and musicians, they make many important discoveries along the way about themselves as people in our world, and I love watching this process unfold.