Kirsten Whitson

Cellist Kirsten Whitson performs extensively as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. She has played throughout the US, Europe, Japan, and Cuba with Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Milwaukee Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Norway's Bergen Philharmonic. She has also performed at the Festival of the Lakes in Alexandria, MN, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, MN, and with Zeitgeist New Music.

Kirsten has presented solo cello concerts throughout the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota for over 20 years. She has been featured on programs broadcast by KFAI and Minnesota Public Radio. She is passionate about the extensive repertoire available for solo cello and has premiered several commissioned pieces. Composers Timothy C. Takach, David Evan Thomas, Carl Witt, and Jocelyn Hagen have written music for her. One of Jocelyn Hagen's pieces for her involved live digital looping. Kirsten recorded Louise Farrenc’s Sonata in Bb Major, Opus 46, with Mary Ellen Haupert for Centaur Records.

Kirsten received a B.M. and an Artist Diploma from Indiana University, where she studied with Fritz Magg and Janos Starker. While at Indiana University, Kirsten was Fritz Magg’s assistant and won a coveted Performer’s Certificate.

Kirsten received Artist Initiative Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2002 and 2018, a grant from the Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers in 2020, a Creative Support Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2021, and is a 2020 McKnight Artist Fellow. She was selected as a 2022 Resident Artist at Ragdale, supported by the McKnight Foundation.