FRANCISCO VILA

CELLO

Vila is a solo musician known for his sensitivity, elegance and absolute command of the instrument. He has performed as a soloist in Asia, Europe, North and South America with orchestras like the Houston Symphony, Liege Royal Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre Royal de Wallonie, Aalborg Symphony and many others. Vila has collaborated with artists such as Gary Hoffman, Nobuko Imai, Wolfram Christ, Cho-Liang Lin, members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Maria Joao Pires and others.

In 2019 he was invited to be Visiting Professor at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, where he served on the faculty for three years.

Vila was under the tutelage of the great masters Gary Hoffman at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and Janos Starker at Indiana University where he also studied chamber music with Menahem Pressler.

Since 2015 Francisco has been artistic director of the Festival Internacional de Música de Esmeraldas. This full-tuition scholarship program brings together talented young musicians and renowned artists in a masterclass setting in his native country of Ecuador. Since it’s founding the festival has awarded 270 scholarships to deserving young musicians.

Vila’s instrument is a Vincenzo Panormo cello from 1790 accompanied by the “ex-Starker, ex-Schiffer” Edward Tubbs bow and another by Louis Panormo.