Co-Artistic Director of CMS since 2004, cellist David Finckel has performed on the world’s stages in the roles of recitalist, chamber artist, and orchestral soloist. The first American student of Mstislav Rostropovich, he joined the Emerson String Quartet in 1979, and during 34 seasons garnered nine Grammy Awards and the Avery Fisher Prize. In 1997, he and pianist Wu Han founded ArtistLed, the first internet-based, artist-controlled classical recording label. In 2022, Music@Menlo, a summer chamber music festival in Silicon Valley founded and directed by David and Wu Han, celebrated its 20th season. He is a professor at both the Juilliard School and Stony Brook University, and oversees both CMS’s Bowers Program and Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute. Along with Wu Han, he received Musical America’s 2012 Musicians of the Year Award.