Miles Reed

 

 

Instrument: Cello

 

Studies:

Oberlin College

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Biography:

 

A 2025 Klein Competition laureate and first prize winner of the Cleveland Cello Society Scholarship Competition and the Oberlin Conservatory Bach Competition, Miles Reed is a cellist of remarkable creativity and passion. Particularly invested in representing living composers, Miles has premiered new works in various ensembles including the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Oberlin Orchestra, Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, Reed Trio, and many others. In the fall of 2024, he premiered Katya Mueller’s Cello Concerto with the Oberlin Sinfonietta. Miles has collaborated personally with many of the preeminent composers of our time, including Christopher Theofanidis, Missy Mazzoli, Amy Williams, Steve Mackey, Alex Paxton, and Jesse Jones. An aspiring composer himself, Miles also recently enjoyed the world premier of his wind duet entitled Micro Variations, interpreted by clarinetist Juan Pedro Espinosa Monteros and bassoonist Heather Hippchen. Recent highlights in Miles’ performance career include the American premier of two works by Alex Paxton at the Bang on a Can Long Play Festival in Brooklyn, and his performance as soloist in Shulamit Ran’s Lyre of Orpheus with the Oberlin Sinfonietta. Miles has accepted a three-year fellowship with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble in Aspen, Colorado under the direction of Tim Weiss. He has participated in masterclasses with Steven Isserlis, Joel Krosnick, Astrid Schween, Gwen Krosnick, Bruce Coppock, and many other legendary pedagogues of our time. He earned a double degree in Cello Performance and Economics at Oberlin College with a Conservatory Dean’s Scholarship under the instruction of Dmitry Kouzov. In the fall of 2025, Miles will attend the University of Southern California to earn his masters in Music Performance, studying with Ralph Kirshbaum. Miles plays on a 19th century French cello by E. Simoutre et Fils, generously on loan from the Virtu Foundation.