Praised for his “clarity and an approachable sensitivity” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer, 2019), cellist Joseph Gotoff is recognized as a thoughtful and passionate performer, scholar, and teacher. With a repertoire spanning the Baroque to the modern era, Dr. Gotoff works closely with a number of composers working today, with premieres by composers including Lowell Liebermann, Cody Forrest and Binna Kim. A sought-after collaborator, his performances as a founding member of the award-winning Petrucci String Quartet have garnered wide acclaim in the United States and abroad. In 2020, his debut album “The Voice of the Cello” was released to critical acclaim on the Spice Classics label.

Dr. Gotoff appears as a soloist and chamber musician in concert halls across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Some highlights of past seasons include a 19-city concert tour of China with the award-winning Petrucci String Quartet, recitals at the Harvard Musical Association, and a performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Thames Valley Youth Orchestra. Dr. Gotoff’s talents have been recognized with a number of awards, including a grant from New England Conservatory to study Beethoven’s string quartet manuscripts, as well as NEC’s Guest Artist Award, which afforded him the opportunity to share the stage with the renowned Borromeo String Quartet.

A fixture in the Boston music scene, Dr. Gotoff won the job of Assistant Principal cellist of the Orchestra of Indian Hill in 2018. He also serves as Assistant Principal cellist of the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, and is a frequent collaborator with A Far Cry chamber orchestra. Dr. Gotoff has served on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Merrimack Colleges, and since relocating to Washington, D.C. in 2020, has joined the faculties of Towson University as well as the Levine School of Music.

Born in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, Joseph Gotoff began playing the cello at age 10, and from an early age developed a love for chamber music. In high school, he was one of the last students of the renowned cellist Orlando Cole, and went on to work closely with the Brentano String Quartet while studying evolutionary biology as an undergraduate at Princeton University. Other former teachers include Ann Kindig, Tom Kraines and Barbara Stein-Mallow. Now based in Washington, D.C., Dr. Gotoff received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from New England Conservatory, studying with Yeesun Kim.