Alan Black

Throughout his career Alan Black has been actively involved and invested in the musical community in Charlotte, North Carolina as a cellist, teacher, coach, and musical entrepreneur. He is passionately committed to developing projects that create opportunities to support local professional musicians, student musicians, and attract new listeners to great musical experiences.

In the past 35 years Alan has served as the Principal Cellist with the charlotte Symphony. His performance experience covers the complete spectrum of music - from classical music, including chamber music, solo recitals, and concertos with the Charlotte Symphony - to touring and recording with the indie/folk/rock group Barnaby Bright. Highlights include performances on stage as a chamber musician and soloist with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, Bobby McFerrin, Van Cliburn Gold Medal pianist Jon Nakamatsu, and fiddler Mark O’Connor. European appearances have included chamber music concerts in Greece, Luxembourg, and piano trio recitals and concerts in Italy, Belgium, and France with violinist Liviu Prunaru, Concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and recording artist and pianist Dana Protopopescu.

During his tenure with the Charlotte Symphony Alan also founded and was Artistic Director of Chamber Music at St. Peter’s (1996-2008), Artistic Director of the Davidson College Concert Series (2012-2020), and most recently produced the CSO’s Al Fresco outdoor concerts in his backyard pavilion (2020-2021). He has received several awards in his career, including the prestigious $5,000 Mecklenburg County Arts & Science Council Fellowship in 1997 and a Emerging Artists grant in 1990. In 2001 he was honored by the Charlotte Observer for his contribution to the arts community as Founder of Chamber Music at St. Peter’s, and in 2001 he also received the Spirit Award, an award given by the Charlotte Mint Museum and Royal & SunAlliance to recognize those whose involvement and commitment to the arts contributed significantly to the quality of life in Charlotte.

Mr. Black performs on a 1995 Moes & Moes cello, originally built for, and owned by Yo-Yo Ma. This cello was used by Mr. Ma in the HBO documentary The Music of Strangers.