Irene Sharp is internationally acclaimed for over 40 years of cello teaching. Many of her students have won national and international
awards and pursue successful careers around the world. She has performed and taught at numerous international festivals, workshops and master classes in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada and the United States.
Sharp was born in Breslau, Germany and came to the United States as a young child. She received her B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied with Eugene Eicher. She continued her studies with Theo
Salzman,principal cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and with Margaret Rowell in Berkeley, California.
In 1960, Sharp performed in a Pablo Casals master class at the University of California, Berkeley. It was
filmed and televised nationally and is now available on video tape. For several years she was a faculty member of International String Workshops held in various European facilities and directed by Paul Rolland, a
founder of the American String Teachers Association. At the invitation of the European String Teachers Association, Sharp has returned as artist-teacher at workshops in Germany and England for the last ten years. She
presented lecture demonstrations with her students at three American Cello Congresses, and for the New York Violoncello Society, and in 1992, completed her third tour of the major Australian cities under the auspices of
the Australian String Teachers Association.
Sharp started teaching at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1956-58, and later at the Detroit Community Music School 1970-72. At the
collegiate level, she taught cello at San Francisco State University 1972-79, University of California at Santa Cruz and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1997 from the San Francisco Conservatory after 23 years as
professor of cello and one year as Chair of the String Department. She currently is Professor of Cello at Mannes College of Music in New York.
Sharp also has spent part of each summer teaching and performing at
various summer festivals and institutes: Meadowmount School for Strings, Bowdoin (Maine) Summer Music Festival, Lake District Summer Music Festival in England, National Cello Institute, Indiana String Academy and
Indiana University.
In l990, Sharp founded the annual Margaret Rowell String Seminar held in June at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Based on the teaching philosophy of Margaret Rowell, the
seminar has attracted violinists and cellists from across the country and abroad. In 1998, Sharp changed the seminar's name to the Irene Sharp Cello Seminar and held it at the Mannes School in New York City.
In l995 Sharp founded California Summer Music a three week session for young students of string, piano and composition at Pebble Beach California.
Sharp has three daughters Wendy, Liane and Robin, all of
whom are musicians. She married engineer Dr. George Szentirmai in 1992.
