André Emelianoff 1942-2020 | In Memoriam

Cellist André Emelianoff, a former faculty member, died in June

Former chamber music faculty member André Emelianoff (BS ’65, cello) died June 1, 2020, after a 10-year battle with progressive supranuclear palsy. He was 78.

Emelianoff, who joined the Juilliard faculty in 1990, became an emeritus professor in 2016, when his illness made teaching impossible. In notifying the school, Amy Larkey-Emelianoff wrote that her husband had died a few hours before their 34th anniversary and that “his 78 years were rich with his love of family, friends, music, nature, travel, history, politics, and, of course, his hundreds of devoted cello students.” In addition to his wife, Emelianoff is survived by nine siblings.

Born March 18, 1942, in Sea Cliff, Long Island, Emelianoff graduated from North Shore High School. At Juilliard, his major teacher was Leonard Rose (faculty 1947-84); among his other teachers were Channing Robbins (BS ’51, cello; faculty 1958-92), Luigi Silva (faculty 1952-62), and Robert Mann (Diploma ’39, violin; faculty 1946-2011). Known for his broad range of artistic interests and viewpoints, Emelianoff toured, commissioned, and recorded extensively as a soloist and chamber artist. He played in the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell and served as principal cellist with the New Jersey Symphony under Henry Lewis as well as with the New York Chamber Symphony and the Waterloo and White Mountains Festival orchestras under Gerard Schwarz (BS ’72, MM ’90, trumpet). Emelianoff was also a longtime member of the Da Capo Chamber Players and won the 1985 solo recitalist award from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

In addition to Juilliard, Emelianoff taught at Bard and the Mozarteum Salzburg summer course as well as being on the artist-faculty of the Round Top (Texas) Festival, the Perlman Program, and the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival. The Juilliard community sends its condolences.

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