Brott, Denis

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Brott, Denis

Brott, Denis Canadian cellist and teacher, son of Alexander and brother of Boris Brott; b. Montreal, Dec. 9, 1950. He studied with Walter Joachim at the Montreal Cons. (1959–67), Nelsova in Aspen (1963–68), Starker at Ind. Univ. (1968–71), and Piatigorsky at the Univ. of Southern Calif, in Los Angeles (1971–75); he then completed his training with Rose in N.Y., Gendron in Paris, and Navarra in Siena. In 1967 he won first prize at the Merriweather Post Competition in Washington, D.C.; then placed first in the Montreal Sym. Orch. Concours that same year, which led to his debut with that orch. in the Dvorak Concerto (1967). During his seasons at the Marlboro (Vt.) Festival (1972–75), he attended Casal’s master classes. He toured widely as a soloist in North America and Europe; from 1980 to 1989 he was a member of the Orford String Quartet. He taught at the Univ. of N.C. (1975–77), the Royal Cons, of Music of Toronto (from 1978), the Univ. of Toronto (1980–89), and the Montreal Cons, (from 1989).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire