Renowned Violinist Tomas Cotik Selected to Join Portland State University School of Music Faculty

Following a national search, the School of Music at Portland State University has selected renowned violinist Tomas Cotik to join its outstanding faculty as an Assistant Professor of Violin. Dr. Tomas Cotik was a member of the Amernet String Quartet and taught at Florida International University and at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. Since 2011, he has been a member of the acclaimed Cotik/Lin duo, which will continue touring and recording. Tomas Cotik will begin in his new post this September when classes resume at PSU. He brings a wealth of artistic and academic experience to PSU, having held leadership positions across the nation and given performances throughout the world. Tomas Cotik follows the steps of Professor Carol Sindell and will continue to inspire future graduates and contribute to the artistic life of the school and the community.

Hailed by Michael Tilson Thomas as "an excellent violinist," Tomas Cotik was a first-prize winner at the National Broadcast Music Competition in his native Argentina in 1997, and the winner of the Government of Canada Award for 2003-2005. An avid recording artist, Dr. Cotik is currently involved in more than fourteen CD recordings for Naxos and Centaur Records, which have received over a hundred reviews and the highest praise from some of the best-known publications such as Fanfare, American Record Guide, Downbeat, and MusicWeb International. These recordings include Schubert’s complete works for violin and piano (nominated as recording of the year by Musicweb International), an album with Cotik’s own arrangements of music by Piazzolla (described by the critics as “among the very best”), a solo CD that includes a world premiere recording of original works by Franz Schubert and an upcoming release of Mozart’s 16 sonatas on a 5 CD set. He has worked extensively with producers such as Blanton Alspaugh and Judith Sherman and also produced four recordings himself. Cotik has performed with several internationally prominent conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, Roberto Abbado, Yakov Kreizberg, Marin Alsop, Stephan Deneve, Roger Norrington, and Robert Spano in notable venues such as Carnegie Hall. Tomas Cotik has performed hundreds of recitals and chamber music concerts across the globe. He was a member of the Amernet, Delray, and Harrington string quartets as well as a rotating concertmaster with the New World Symphony. He has worked closely with artists such as Joseph Kalichstein, Franklin Cohen and members of the Cleveland, Miami, Pro Arte, Vogler, Vermeer, Tokyo and Endellion string quartets.

Tomas Cotik earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami. He holds an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School in Toronto and a Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Freiburg University of Music in Germany. PSU is a public, nonprofit, coeducational research university located in the Southwest University District of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The university was ranked among the top fifteen percentile of American universities in The Best 376 Colleges by The Princeton Review in 2012 for undergraduate education. In 2015, the university ranked at number 16 as one of the "Most Innovative" colleges in the nation and at number 15 in a list of the most liberal universities in the United States. The Carnegie Foundation ranked PSU as a Top School in Curricular Engagement, Outreach, and Partnerships, and it is ranked as the 9th Best Neighbor Universities.

The School of Music is located in the cultural district of Portland, only three blocks from the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. It maintains close ties with the major musical institutions of the city, and students have many opportunities to interact with professionals in the community. Faculty members at the school are nationally recognized performers, composers and scholars. The urban location and mission of the University allows students to pursue innovative options in their musical education. The school serves over 300 music majors and offers the BA, BS and BM at the undergraduate level and the MA/MS and MM graduate degrees. Portland State University is the largest university in the Oregon State System of Higher Education and has an enrollment of approximately 29,000 students. Lincoln Performance Hall is the busiest fine arts venue in Portland, hosting performances more than 200 nights a year.

Information about the PSU is available by visiting http://www.pdx.edu/music/ For more information about Tomas Cotik please visit http://www.tomascotik.com