Biography

The International Cellist

Born in Kenya, in 1949, then a British colony, of English Hungarian parents, Dave Loew began playing the cello at six, his first fan an aged and lame male lion. Simba, who would sit by the boy’s feet and listen as he played. At ten years old the visiting world-famous Russian virtuoso cellist Raya Garbousova, on a vacation, greatly encouraged the boy that he could become a fine cellist.

Dave Loew hails from a colourful family of four generations of artists steeped in Ballet, Jazz and Classical music, his father English, a dance band leader, his Mother a prima ballerina in Budapest Hungary. The family emigrated to Australia in 1967 and he entered the Sydney Conservatorium to study with John Painter, one of the country’s finest cellists. Dave has enjoyed an intense forty-year international career in Britain and Australia also visiting other countries such as Canada with his performing and album sales. Going professional in the 1970s, he joined the Melbourne Symphony orchestra, before joining the Australian Ballet and Opera as principal cello. He later moved to London where he joined the famous London Symphony Orchestra under Andre Previn, for whom he also played as principal cellist for his world premiere of “Every Good Boy” in London, winning an accolade from the legendary conductor. Dave also worked extensively with other groups such as The English Chamber Orchestra as well as in Hollywood blockbuster film soundtracks for John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Henry Mancini. And also, icons such as Pavarotti, Sutherland and Caballe, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh and pop stars such as, Cliff Richard, Streisand, Julie Andrews, Elton John and frequently working at the famous Abbey Road studios, Royal Albert Hall and the Southbank centre.

Dave’s career has spanned from earliest radio recitals for ABC’s Young Australia program and principal with the Australian Youth Orchestra to eventually not only creating Australia’s first private enterprise orchestra with acclaimed national concerts including at the World Expo in Brisbane and Sydney Opera House. In Australia, his first commercial album “Debut” went on to gain platinum sales and nomination for “Best Classical Album” 1988 Arias. In Britain, he formed his own independent record label “Safari in Classics” and created a national cult following with some 2,000 appearances, gaining international tabloid media as well as on both ITN, BBC and CNN news.

He has been based in Australia since 2012 and signed to the country’s most distinguished record company Ambition Entertainment with Sony distributing his several albums streaming on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and available in music stores.

In 2020, his forty-year memoir and family history entirely self-written book “African Cellist” will be published as a World Release by Austin Macauley, one of the world’s flourishing book publishers. The book will be packed full of colourful true stories and anecdotes, as well as lavishly illustrated with some ninety archive photographs plus especially commissioned sketches.