Masumi Rostad

Praised for his “burnished sound” (The New York Times) and described as an “electrifying, poetic, and sensitive musician,” Grammy Award-winning violist Masumi Rostad is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. In addition to maintaining an active performance schedule, he serves on the faculty of the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

Recent highlights include concerto appearances with the Virginia Symphony, LA Chamber Orchestra, The Knights, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and numerous festivals including La Jolla Summerfest, Bridgehampton Festival, Music In The Vineyards (Napa), Music@Menlo, Spoleto Festival USA, and Beare’s Premiere Music Festival (Hong Kong). In 2025, he performed an all-Shostakovich program with pianist Evgeny Kissin and the Kopelman Quartet at Carnegie Hall and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra Piano Festival.

Masumi spent nearly two decades with the Pacifica Quartet, performing in the world’s top venues and earning major honors including an Avery Fisher Career Grant and Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year award. He can be heard on the Cedille, Naxos, Hyperion, Musical Observations, Bridge, and Tzadik record labels.

He studied with legendary violist and pedagogue Karen Tuttle at The Juilliard School and was her teaching assistant. While a student, he performed the world premiere of Michael White’s Viola Concerto in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall and also gave the New York premiere of Paul Schoenfield’s Viola Concerto.

Masumi actively maintains a YouTube channel and produces insightful videos about music and musicians. Appointed to the Viola Faculty of Eastman School of Music in 2017, he was elected and served two terms as the first, and only, chair of the University of Rochester Faculty Senate to come from Eastman. He performs on a rare 1619 Brothers Amati viola.