About

Canadian Juno Award-winning cellist Amanda Forsyth is one of the most dynamic cellists on the concert stage today. She has achieved an international reputation as a premier soloist and chamber musician, and her intense richness of tone, exceptional musicality and passion have garnered praise and accolades from audiences and music critics across the globe.

Ms. Forsyth has been a soloist on international tours with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. She has appeared abroad with the Orchestra Radio de France, Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, and Teatro San Carlo. She has toured extensively in Australia, performing with the Sydney, Perth and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras.  In the United States, she has performed with the Chicago Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, the New West Symphony, the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.  She made her Los Angeles Philharmonic and her Israel Philharmonic Carnegie Hall debut under the baton of Zubin Mehta.

As a founding member of the Zukerman Chamber Players, and the cellist of the Zukerman Trio, she has performed on six continents,  playing in many of the world’s cultural capitals and participating in prestigious music festivals such as the Edinburgh International Festival, the Miyazaki International Music Festival, the Verbier Festival, the BBC Proms, the Tanglewood Festival, the Ravinia Festival, the St. Petersburg International Music Festival, the White Nights Festival, the La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, and the Aspen Music Festival.

 Recent seasons have featured prominent appearances with the Aspen Music Festival, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Adda Simfònica Alicante, Chamber Music Sedona, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In the 2025–2026 season, Ms. Forsyth returns to the international stage with Adda Simfònica Alicante, and performs with the Zukerman Trio in performances at Carnegie Hall and the Chicago Symphony Center.

 A versatile artist, Ms. Forsyth has performed her cabaret show at Café Carlyle in New York City. Upcoming cabaret performances include appearances at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, and The Stissing Center in Pine Plains.

 Ms. Forsyth is a recording artist on the Sony Classics, Naxos, Altara, Fanfare, ProArte and CBC labels. Significant recordings include Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 (“The Trout”)  with the Zukerman Chamber Players and Yefim Bronfman on the Sony Classics label. Her most recent recording on the Analekta Records label features Brahms’ Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102 with Pinchas Zukerman and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Composer Avner Dorman created his Double Concerto for Violin and Cello (2019) specifically for Ms. Forsyth and violinist Pinchas Zukerman. Co-commissioned by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the piece was a collaborative effort between Forsyth, Zukerman and the Israeli composer, exploring the duo’s musical partnership with a style Dorman described as a blend of neo-romanticism, neo-classicism, and modernism. 

 Born in South Africa and raised in Canada, Forsyth started playing the cello at the age of three. She later studied in London with William Pleeth and at The Juilliard School with Harvey Shapiro. She performs on a rare 1699 Carlo Giuseppe Testore cello, an instrument whose depth and character mirror her own: warm, vivid, and capable of tremendous expressive power.

 “…exquisite expressiveness that seemed to flow effortlessly from her hands and bow, Forsyth was a delight to listen to” —Ventura County Star

“This Double Concerto hits all the right buttons- it is unrestrained, powerful, and tsunami-like in delivery, while shimmering with sans pareil melodic lines.” —The Whole Note

“Ms. Forsyth was…setting the toe-tapping finale off with just the right tempo, lightness of touch, rich tone and elegant phrasing.” —Classical Source

“Amanda Forsyth brings passion and formidable technique as a cellist” —Limelight Magazine

“Forsyth is a bodacious performer — she doesn’t do ‘tentative’ — and it was glorious.” —Commercial Appeal Memphis

“She commands a darkly burnished sonority and formidable technique.” —South Florida Classical Review