Cyrus Forough

Professor of Violin, School of Music, College of Fine Arts, Carnegie Mellon University

Laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition, Cyrus Forough has performed in recitals and with orchestras throughout four continents including broadcasts on radio and television and command performances for international dignitaries.

As winners of the USIA’s National violin/piano Duo Competition with his wife, Steinway Artist Carolyn McCracken, they toured the Far East and South America representing the United States as Artistic Ambassadors. They have performed at the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires; The National Gallery, Washington D.C.; The Phillips Collection, and the Kennedy Center.

Forough’s unique succession of studies make singular his recognition as a prominent representative of the Franco-Belgium school of violin playing, studying with legendary artists David Oistrakh, Josef Gingold, and at age nine with Arthur Grumiaux.

He has taught and performed at festivals in France, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Rumania, Poland, Czech Republic, Canada, and the United States. His students are prizewinners of national and international competitions and members of professional orchestras worldwide. Numerous students have been chosen to perform on “From the Top” at Carnegie Hall, New York, and throughout the nation, and broadcast on radio and television.  His students have included winners of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, and a Presidential Scholar.

Mr. Forough’s dedication to teaching and his skill at communicating his art have earned him a reputation as one of the most sought after and most effective violin pedagogues, drawing students globally seeking admittance into his studio. At present he is a full-time professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and has taught as an Artist faculty member of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy for Gifted, and was a visiting professor at Eastman School of Music in 2009 and 2010.