Daniel Rothmuller

Cello (Orchestra Excerpts)
daniel-rothmuller

Daniel Rothmuller

Daniel Rothmuller earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Indiana University School of Music, where he was a student of Professor Fritz Magg and also studied with Professor János Starker. His Chamber Music Coaches included Josef Gingold, David Dawson, William Primrose and Daniel Guilet. Additionally, he studied with Gregor Piatigorsky at the University of Southern California.

For his military service, Daniel Rothmuller was a member of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band serving as a cellist for musical performances at the White House and State Department functions from January 1967 – January 1971. Upon completing his service, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in February 1971 and was appointed to the position of Associate Principal Cellist in 1975. He retired from the LA Philharmonic at the end of the 2011/2012 season.

Rothmuller has won critical praise for his many solo appearances with the LA Philharmonic, both in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and at the Hollywood Bowl under Music Directors Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, André Previn, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and composer Witold Lutoslawski. Under the latter’s baton Rothmuller gave the first West Coast performances of the renowned Polish composer’s cello concerto. During the LA Philharmonic’s 1995 celebration of the Hindemith Centenary, Rothmuller performed Hindemith’s Cello Concerto (1940) under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst. In the Green Umbrella concert series of the 1998/1999 season, he gave the West Coast premiere of the Cello Concerto of H.K. Gruber in a performance conducted by the composer. He has also been featured in special LA Philharmonic concerts at UCLA and various Southern California communities.

An avid chamber musician, Rothmuller has performed with various ensembles in Europe, the United States, and Japan. Included among them are Music Mountain in Connecticut, the Bronfman Chamber Music Series in Idaho, White Mountain Festival in New Hampshire, Round Top in Texas, Rockport in Massachusetts and Ima concerts in Japan. He was a member of the LA Philharmonic Chamber Music Society, the LA Philharmonic New Music Group (Green Umbrella), the An die Musik Chamber Ensemble, and the Jordan Piano Trio. While studying with Piatigorsky at the University of Southern California, Rothmuller performed with him and Jascha Heifetz at the Hancock Auditorium.

Daniel Rothmuller has participated in several orchestra music festivals including the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder as Principal Cellist, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho, and the Aspen Music Festival at which he served both on the Faculty and as Principal Cellist of the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

For 25 years, Rothmuller taught Orchestral Repertoire for cello students at the University of Southern California School of Music. Additionally he has taught at Cal Arts, Chapman University, Cal State Fullerton, Azusa Pacific University, University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado State University in Fort Collins and continues to teach privately and as a guest lecturer.