The New York Times has hailed cellist Andrew Janss for his “glowing tone,” “insightful musicianship,” and “sumptuous elegance.” Mr. Janss began his career as the founding cellist of the Escher Quartet, winning the CMS Two residency at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Since then, he has performed and recorded alongside legendary Classical artists including Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, and Itzhak Perlman, as well as chart-topping artists Norah Jones, Paul McCartney, Lana Del Rey, and Bruce Springsteen. He has performed as Guest Principal Cellist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra, and as a cellist at the Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Santa Fe, La Jolla, Aspen, and Ravinia Music Festivals. His principal teachers include Andrew Cook, David Geber, Clive Greensmith, and David Soyer.

Mr. Janss has spearheaded multiple groundbreaking music education and music medicine initiatives, most recently while serving as Executive and Co-Artistic Director of the nonprofit organization Project: Music Heals Us. These initiatives include Music For The Future, a college-accredited music composition program for incarcerated individuals, and the Vital Sounds Initiative, a virtual bedside concert (VBC) program for hospital patients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the program produced over 15,000 individual VBCs—for which he was nominated by Yo-Yo Ma for an Emerson Collective Fellowship. He continues to develop VBC work in dual roles with the Amplify Foundation and the Stanford School of Medicine.

Most recently, in an effort to improve the quality of instruments for school music programs – and to combat mass deforestation caused by an overreliance on cheap, disposable string instrument bows – Mr. Janss assembled a team of renowned bowmakers and MIT-trained mechanical engineers to invent the Arcotype Bow: a self-rehairable bow that utilizes a simple, cartridge-based system to allow teachers and performers to quickly, easily, and affordably rehair their own bows. Learn more at www.arcotypebows.com.

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Photo credit: Barbara Kinney