Education
Doctor of Musical Arts in Cello Performance (Candidate), Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Master of Music in Cello Performance, State University of New York at Stony Brook
Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance, McGill University
Biography
A native of Taiwan, Tsai is pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts in Cello Performance at Rutgers University under Prof. Jonathan Spitz, principal cellist of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, with full funding (W. Robert & Leone Schare Music Scholarship). He holds a Bachelor’s degree from McGill University and a Master’s degree from SUNY Stony Brook, having studied with esteemed professors Matt Haimovitz and Colin Carr.
As an avid chamber and orchestral musician, Tsai has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, KKL Luzern, Lincoln Center, Maison Symphonique, and Seiji Ozawa Hall. He has played under the baton of conductors including Marin Alsop, Sir George Benjamin, Susanna Mälkki, Giancarlo Guerrero, Alexander Shelley, Kent Nagano, and Andris Nelsons, and collaborated with renowned artists like Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Yo-Yo Ma, Lucy Shelton, Kyoko Hashimoto, and Carol Wincenc.
His chamber music training includes mentorship from members of the Emerson, Juilliard, Guarneri, Orion, and Formosa Quartets, as well as from David Finckel, Gilbert Kalish, Matthew Lipman, Min Kwon, Carmit Zori, Daniel Panner, and Tim Cobb. He has participated in masterclasses with Timothy Eddy, Peter Wiley, Paul Watkins, Brinton Smith, Raman Ramakrishnan, among others.
Tsai has been invited to festivals including the Lucerne Festival, Tanglewood Music Center Fellowship Program, Sarasota Music Festival, New York String Seminar, National Orchestral Institute + Festival, and National Arts Centre Orchestra Mentorship Program. An advocate of contemporary music, he has performed with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, Contemporary Chamber Players, and Helix! New Music Ensemble, and premiered new works across Europe and North America.
A recent winner of the Mason Gross School of the Arts Concerto Competition, Tsai will perform Witold Lutosławski’s Cello Concerto with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra in 2025.