Official website of Cyrus Forough

Cyrus Forough

Noted for the "fiery intensity" and "poetic vision" of his playing, Cyrus Forough has received reviews which comprise a lexicon of superlatives in more than a dozen languages. A Laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Competition, he has also won first prize in the Milwaukee Symphony Violin Competition, and along with his wife, pianist Carolyn McCracken, was a winner of the United States Artistic Ambassador Program's National Violin/Piano Duo Competition as the Forough/McCracken Duo.

Mr. Forough's live and recorded recital performances and orchestra solo appearances have been performed and broadcast on radio and television throughout the four continents of Europe, Asia, North and South America, and have received unanimous praise from critics and public alike. His concerts for international dignitaries have included command performances for Queen Fabiola and Princess Paola of Belgium, the Shah of Iran, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and President Kreiske of Austria. He also gave a special performance on the occasion of the birthday celebration of HM Queen Sirikit of Thailand.

Cyrus Forough has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Milwaukee Symphony, the Alabama Symphony, the Belgian National Radio Orchestra, NIRT, The Moscow State Orchestra, and with other orchestras internationally with such conductors as Rudolf Barshai, Zdenek Kosler, Farhad Mechkat, Paul Polivnick, Alexander Rahbari, Loris Tjeknavorian, and Andre Vandernoot. He has also appeared at many summer festivals such as the Weimar Festival in East Germany, the Plovdiv Music Festival in Bulgaria, the International Schubert Festival at Indiana University, and the American Sacred Music Festival in Milwaukee, directed by composer and conductor Lukas Foss.

Cyrus Forough has championed contemporary music and gave the premiere of a work dedicated to him entitled "Woman Holding a Balance" by Alan Fletcher. He has also performed the works of Reza Vali, and the Milwaukee Symphony's premiere performance of the Shostakovich First Violin Concerto was given by him as soloist. The Forough/McCracken Duo performed William Kraft's "Double Play" with orchestra and premiered the Violin/ Piano Sonata of Shostakovich and "Central Park Wheel" by Lukas Foss in numerous cities in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America.

Called "musical treasures of absolute mastery," the Forough/McCracken Duo has charmed and captivated audiences with the artistry of their unique duo partnership. They have performed in many concert venues, including the Kennedy Center, the Phillips Collection, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the "Theatre Colon" in Buenos Aires, and many others. As Artistic Ambassadors of the United States, they have concertized in many countries, performing in recitals and with orchestras, giving master classes and interviews, participating in symposiums and discussions with universities and conservatories, and giving benefit recitals for educational and medical foundations, all for the purpose of fostering goodwill and cultural understanding between people and nations.

Mr. Forough is, in a unique and singular way, a major representative of the Franco-Belgium school of violin playing. He was exceptionally admitted to the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels at age nine as a student of the renowned Belgian violinist Arthur Grumiaux. He graduated with a Superior Prize and Special Distinction Medal at age 16. He then became one of only eleven students chosen by national competition to attend Europe's most renowned school for young virtuosi, the "Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth" living and studying in Brussels for a total of twelve years. He then pursued post graduate studies for three years at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the legendary violinist David Oistrakh. Upon Oistrakh's untimely death, he attended Indiana University School of Music where he studied with, and was the personal assistant to, distinguished violinist and pedagogue Josef Gingold, who himself studied in Belgium under the illustrious Eugene Ysaye.

At present, Mr. Forough is a full-time Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Artist Teacher of Roosevelt University's College of Performing Arts in Chicago, and a faculty member of the Chicago Institute of Music.

His dedication to teaching and his skill at communicating his art have won him a reputation as one of this country's most effective and most sought after violin pedagogues. His college and pre-college students have distinguished themselves as prize winners of many national and international competitions such as the Washington International and the Yehudi Menuhin in Folkstone, England. His students are also members of many professional orchestras and have been accepted to major music schools across the country.

Mr. Forough has been an adjudicator for competitions such as the Stulberg International Competition, the Sorantin International String Competition, and others.

In the summer of 2007 Mr. Forough will teach at the International Music Academy in Pilsen, Czech Republic, the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Brunswick, Maine, and the Beverly Hills International Chamber Music Festival in California. Mr. Forough has previously served as a faculty member at other summer festivals such as the Meadowmount School of Music, the Indiana University String Academy, Bloomington, and numerous others.

In addition to the above mentioned institutions, Mr. Forough has conducted master classes at the Cleveland Institute of Music; Mount Royal College-Academy "Program for Gifted Youth" in residence, Calgary, Canada, and the Glenn Gould School of the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music.