Hello, I`mSaul Bitran
Saul Bitran, first violinist of the Latin Grammy award-winning Cuarteto Latinoamericano, is an Associate Professor of Violin at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Saul has received some of Mexico and Chile’s highest artistic awards, namely the Bellas Artes Medal and the Order of Merit Pablo Neruda.
The Cuarteto Latinoamericano is one of the world’s foremost string quartets. Founded in 1982, the Cuarteto has toured extensively throughout Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia. It has recorded over a hundred albums and premiered a similar number of new works composed for the group.
A devoted teacher and chamber music coach, his former students now populate many of the finest orchestras in the world. Bitran was on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, from 1987 to 2008, and he was also involved with Venezuela’s Sistema for over twenty years. There, together with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, he created the Latin American Academy for String Quartets, which operated in Caracas from 2008 until 2013. Bitran has also taught at numerous music festivals including the Dartington International Summer School, Centre d’Arts Orford, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, Grenoble Festival, San Miguel de Allende Chamber Music Festival, and many others.
As a recitalist with his frequent piano partner, Sally Pinkas, Bitran has been recently presenting a series of recitals exploring the connections between French and Latin American music.
Bitran’s noted solo appearances have included the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, and National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, as well as with prominent conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gerard Schwarz, Eduardo Mata, and Keith Lockhart, among others.
Bitran is a cum laude graduate of the Samuel Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he studied with Professor Yair Kless.
“Bitran’s staggering virtuosity in the live violin part was jaw-dropping” – Florida Sun-Sentinel
