Biography
SEBASTIAN BEROFSKY is a twenty-three-year-old cellist from Ann Arbor, MI who began cello lessons at age six. He is pursuing his Master of Music in Cello Performance studying at the Juilliard School with Astrid Schween. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Rice where he studied with Desmond Hoebig. He previously studied with Richard Aaron and he has also studied with, and played in master classes given by, Blaise Déjardin, Leonid Gorokhov, Steve Doane, Brandon Vamos, the Fauré Quartett, the Horszowski Trio, Pavel Haas Quartet, the Callisto Quartet, and the Escher Quartet.
Last summer he attended the Taos School of Music where he studied with Yeesun Kim of the Borromeo Quartet, Dan McDonough of the Jupiter Quartet, Hye-Jin Kim of the Cooperstown Quartet, and Sasha Kazovsky of the Ariel Quartet. He attended the Tanglewood Music Center where he won the opportunity to play a concert in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and also won the opportunity to participate in the Shostakovich Festival at the Gewandhaus Leipzig, playing under Andris Nelsons with students of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester. He has also attended Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, the Chautauqua Institution, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and Indiana University Summer String Academy.
The only winner of the Shepherd School String Concerto Competition in 2025, Sebastian was one of three finalists in the Chautauqua Sigma Alpha Iota Concerto Competition and was the winner of the MASTA chamber music prize, Michigan Youth Arts Festival chamber music award, MTNA Senior String Division award (Michigan), and the Michigan Pops Orchestra concerto competition.
Sebastian is a member of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and has also served as principal in the Juilliard Orchestra, the Shepherd School Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. In 2018 he performed the Mendelssohn A Major Viola Quintet with faculty members and peers after winning the summer chamber music competition at the IU Summer String Academy. Sebastian has been a guest artist with the Pressenda Chamber Players in Washington, D.C. on several occasions. With the Berofsky Piano Quartet, he has played on the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra’s chamber series, as well as the Chautauqua Chamber Music series, University of Delaware Master Players, and the Crystal Valley Concert series.
Sebastian was a member of Trio Riso, an ensemble that was selected as a semifinalist for the Coltman Chamber Music Competition and a quarterfinalist for the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2024.