Frank Dodge, a native New Englander, born in Boston in 1950, began studying the violoncello at age 16. His instructors were Jacobus Langendoen, Aldo Parisot, Pierre Fournier, Eberhard Finke and Maurice Gendron. Frank Dodge received a BM from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1973 and a MM from the Yale Graduate School of Music in 1975. He founded the Strawbery Banke Chamber Music Festival, Inc. in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and was its artistic director and cellist from 1969‐1981. He was also founding member of the Portsmouth Chamber Players, winners in 1981 of the Artists International Competition in New York City and frequent guests on series including the Cleveland Museum of Art at University Circle, the Harvard Musical Association, Carnegie Recital Hall, Bay Chamber Concerts, the Machais Bay Chamber Concerts and others. Frank Dodge lived in New York City from 1978 to 1982 playing with the Opera Orchestra of New York, the St. Lukes Chamber Ensemble, and the Orchestra of our Time and as principal cellist of the Stanford Symphony. Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., the New Hampshire Commission on the Arts, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, Inc. and the Greater Piscataqua

Community Foundation supported his endeavors on a regular basis. 

 

Frank Dodge moved to Berlin, Germany in 1982 with a two‐year fellowship from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund for Musicians in Boston. Two Individual Artists Fellowships from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts assisted him with further study abroad. From 1983‐2000 he performed regularly with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and at the invitation of Jesús Lopez Cobos moved to Madrid to perform with the National Orchestra of Spain for the 1984‐85 season. A Highlands tour as principal cellist of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Jaime Laredo followed in the spring of 1985. He then returned to Berlin where he has lived since. He founded Spectrum Concerts Berlin, which opened on January 22nd, 1988 in the Academy of Arts and Sciences in West Berlin. Sender Freies Berlin, RIAS‐Berlin and Radio Berlin‐Brandenburg recorded the concerts for National Public Radio’s "Performance Today". The Ernst von Siemens Foundation in Munich, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Robert Helps Music Trust, the Körber Foundation and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation have supported Frank Dodge’s work in Berlin. Dodge also founded American Music Week Berlin, 1990 and 2000 and the cultural exchange program "Berlin Music Students Meet American Composers", a project, which introduces young European music students to American composers, their music and the places they live, and work. The program has found repeated success at the Juilliard School, Duke University, the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of South Florida in Tampa. Spectrum Concerts Berlin is a privately financed chamber music organization based in Berlin, Germany and in New York City. The series is presently in its 26th season and has won ongoing international praise for both its performances in the Berlin Philharmonie and its numerous recordings. In order to extend the artistic work of the ensemble and the organization, Spectrum Concerts Berlin‐USA, Inc. was founded in New York City in 2005. It opened with two memorable concerts in Carnegie Hall ‐ Zankel Hall.

 

Frank Dodge is currently involved with helping revitalize the music school “Lorenc Antoni” in Prizren, Kosovo. Members of Spectrum Concerts Berlin, Naomi Niskala, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer and Frank Dodge traveled to Prizren in February 2013 for concerts, master classes and press work, all as part of a long‐term project to help restore the vitality of the classical music scene in Kosovo. The project is supported in part by the Embassy of Kosovo in Berlin and Spectrum Concerts Berlin. A return visit took place in May of 2014. Further plans include a competition in the fall of 2015, further visits by the ensemble to Kosovon music schools and guest visits to Berlin for Kosovan musicians. (28th Season)

 

Frank Dodge has recorded for Naxos, Teldec, CRI, SFB, RBB and RIAS‐BERLIN. He performs on a cello by Antonio Casini dated 1676 from Modena, Italy and a cello by Jebran Yakoub dated 2010 from Cremona, Italy.    www.spectrumconcerts.com

 

Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sumner_Dodge

 

“An exceptional musician.” Der Tagesspiegel

 

“... a great sense for musical colors and opulent sound ...”

Berliner Morgenpost

 

“Grace best describes the musical art of Frank Dodge.”

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

 

“The Three Easy Pieces are rich and inventive morsels, which can stand the big interpretation they receive here.”

Music Web (Bob Briggs) NAXOS CD 8.572213

 

“The cello Impromptus come from 1963, when Toch was 76. Cellist Frank Dodge, playing a rich, deep instrument, elevates this solemn music to near-masterpiece status."

Fanfare (James H. North, 2008) NAXOS CD 8.559324

 

“Perhaps the greatest work here is from the previously‐mentioned last period of Toch: the Three Impromptus for Cello, a powerful, captivating piece of great moment and substance, played to the hilt by Frank Dodge."

Audiophile Audition (Steven Ritter, 2008) NAXOS CD 8.559324

 

“The late Impromptus receive tenderly moving performances from cellist Frank Dodge with a closing Adagio whose inward tone is deeply affecting."

Allmusic (James Leonard, 2008) NAXOS CD 8.559324