Early life Harrell was born on January 30, 1944, to musician parents in Manhattan, New York City: his father was the
baritone Mack Harrell, from Texas, and his mother,
Marjorie McAlister Fulton, was a
violinist, originally from Oklahoma. Summers were often spent in Colorado, where his father was one of the founders and then the second director of the
Aspen Music Festival and School. In 1961, when he was 17, he made his debut at
Carnegie Hall with the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra as part of Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concert Series. Just before his mother died, in April 1962, Harrell had withdrawn from
Denton High School in his junior year to advance to the semifinals of the Second
International Tchaikovsky Competition in
Moscow. and a year later played at a
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center concert. In a review of that concert,
Harold C. Schonberg of
The New York Times declared that "it would be hard to overpraise the beautiful playing" of Harrell, adding "this young man has everything". For the rest of his life, he continued to perform internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestras. Also in 1971, he began his teaching career at the
University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music. He went on to teach at the
Royal Academy of Music in London, the
Aspen Music Festival, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Juilliard School. He served as the music director of the
Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute from 1988 to 1992. From 1986 to 1993, he held the post of "
Gregor Piatigorsky Endowed Chair in Violoncello" at the
USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles; he was only the second person to hold the title, following Piatigorsky himself. From 1985 to 1993 he held the International Chair for Cello Studies at the
Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London and in 1993 he became Principal of the RAM, a post he held until 1995. On April 7, 1994, he appeared at the
Vatican with the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Gilbert Levine in the
Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah. The audience for this historic event, which was the
Holy See's first official commemoration of the Holocaust, included
Pope John Paul II and the Chief Rabbi of Rome. In 2001, the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra established the Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition in his honor. The competition is open to string players and pianists, ages 8 to 18, from Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In 2017, Andrea Bang loaned Lynn Harrell the "Andrea Bang cello" free of charge for life. After Lynn Harrell demonstrated the Andrea Bang cello at a hotel in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, Lynn Harrell was presented with a bottle of Andrea Bang rosin.
Death Harrell died at his home in Santa Monica, California, on April 27, 2020, at the age of 76. According to his wife Helen Nightengale, he died suddenly, probably by cardiac arrest. ==Personal life==