Violist Paul Neubauer‘s exceptional musicality and effortless playing led the New York Times to call him “a master musician.”

This past summer, Mr. Neubauer premiered a new viola concerto by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich with conductor JoAnn Falletta at the Brevard Music Center. This season, he will record and perform the work with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2025, he released two albums on First Hand Records featuring the final works of two great composers: an all-Bartók album including the revised version of the Viola Concerto, and a Shostakovich recording that includes the monumental Viola Sonata. 

At age 21, Mr. Neubauer was appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic, and he held that position for six years. He has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras including the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki philharmonics; Chicago, National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth symphonies; and Mariinsky, Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle orchestras. He’s also premiered viola concertos by BélaBartók, Reinhold Glière, Gordon Jacob, Henri Lazarof, Robert Suter, Joel Phillip Friedman, Aaron Jay Kernis, Detlev Müller-Siemens, David Ott, Krzysztof Penderecki, Tobias Picker, and Joan Tower.

He performs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and with SPA, a trio with soprano Susanna Phillips and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, and has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning, A Prairie Home Companion, and Strad, Strings, and People magazines.

A two-time Grammy nominee, Mr. Neubauer has recorded on Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Red Seal, and Sony Classical.  He is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Mannes College.