Cellist Joseph Gotoff is recognized as a thoughtful and passionate performer, scholar, and teacher. With a repertoire that spans from the Baroque to the modern era, Dr. Gotoff works closely with a number of composers working today, with premiers including Lowell Liebermann’s Piano Trio (2013) and Binna Kim’s Shibboleth for solo cello (2016). A sought-after chamber musician, Dr. Gotoff’s reputation as an intense and compelling communicator has brought wide acclaim both in the United States and abroad.

Dr. Gotoff appears frequently as a soloist and chamber musician in concert across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Recent performance highlights include a 19-city concert tour of China with the award-winning Petrucci String Quartet, of which he is a founding member, and a performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Thames Valley Youth Orchestra. He gives frequent solo and chamber recitals throughout New England, and recent concerto appearances include performances of the Beethoven Triple Concerto and Monn Cello Concerto with the New England Conservatory Chamber Players, as well as Lalo’s Cello Concerto with the Williamsport Symphony. An ardent opera fan, Dr. Gotoff has served as principal cellist for the Prague Summer Nights Festival Orchestra, performing at the Estates Theater and Esterhazy Palace in Prague. Currently, he serves as the principal cellist of the Unitas Ensemble, a Boston-based chamber orchestra dedicated to promoting music from South and Latin America, and serves as the assistant principal cellist of The Orchestra of Indian Hill, based in Littleton, MA. 

Dr. Gotoff serves on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Merrimack College, and teaches cello in Arlington public schools, and was recently appointed faculty at the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C. His awards include a prestigious fellowship from NEC to study Beethoven’s string quartet manuscripts, a project which developed into his doctoral dissertation on staccato articulations in Beethoven’s manuscripts.  Dr. Gotoff is also a prizewinner of NEC’s Guest Artist Award, which afforded him the opportunity to share the stage with the renowned Borromeo String Quartet.

Born in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, Joseph Gotoff began playing the cello at age 10. His former teachers include Ann Kindig, Orlando Cole, Tom Kraines and Barbara Stein-Mallow. Now based in Washington, D.C., Dr. Gotoff recently received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from New England Conservatory, studying with Yeesun Kim.