founder

Evan Drachman, the founder of the Piatigorsky Foundation, is a professional cellist and a respected authority on the presentation of live classical music for diverse audiences.

Cellist Evan Drachman, Founder and Artistic Director of the Piatigorsky Foundation, has combined musical talent with artistic vision to create a rich and varied career. Mr. Drachman spends much of his time performing recitals, concerti and chamber music in the United States and abroad. As Artistic Director of the Piatigorsky Foundation, he has become one of this country’s most respected authorities on the presentation of live classical music to diverse audiences. The organization is named for Mr. Drachman’s grandfather, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.

In 1999, Drachman recorded his first CD, A Frog He Went a Courting, with pianist Richard Dowling. The Baltimore Sun’s Steven Wigler wrote of the recording, “Drachman possesses in abundance two qualities for which his grandfather was revered: the ability to make the cello imitate the human singing voice and, even more important, the ability to tell a story.” Following this success, Drachman and Dowling released two more recordings titled, Infinity in 2004 and Romance and Revelation in 2007. In 2012 Evan Drachman released Full Circle with pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion. Their latest recording, Fantasy, was released in 2018.

Mr. Drachman received his BMA from The Curtis Institute of Music in 1988. His teachers have included Luis Garcia-Renart, Orlando Cole, Laurence Lesser, William Pleeth and Stephen Kates. In 1994, Mr. Drachman performed with the Odessa Philharmonic in Odessa and Kiev. In 1997, at the invitation of Mstislav Rostropovich, Drachman traveled to Russia to perform as soloist with the St. Petersburg Symphony under Maestro Rostropovich. Evan currently lives in Maryland with his wife Joan. They have two sons, Eli and Oliver.