Louise Dubin ’92

What do a 19th-century French cellist and the Radio City Rockettes have in common? Louise Dubin ’92.

While at the College, Dubin attended the Juilliard exchange program and earned a B.A. in comparative literature. Many nights she could be found at WKCR, hanging out or preparing for her show Strings Attached. “I liked to broadcast recordings that were hard to find, including some scratchy 78s from the WKCR locker.”

She took that love of lesser-known classical music onward, writing her doctoral thesis (from Indiana University Bloomington) on cellist and composer Auguste Franchomme. Inspired by unpublished manuscripts and out-of-print works that she discovered in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, Dubin released her debut album, The Franchomme Project, in 2015. Many of her album tracks are world-premiere recordings.

Dubin has performed around the world, including recitals in Salle Gaveau and other venues in France, and as principal cellist of the Auckland Philharmonia, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and the Charleston [S.C.] Symphony. She now performs in many classical ensembles and Broadway shows closer to home, including, for the past few years, as the cello 1 chair at Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular. “It takes a lot of endurance, but it’s fun and the level of playing is inspiring,” she says of her Christmas Spectacular role. She performs up to four 90-minute shows daily during the two months the show is staged.

Dubin’s next album will be released this year. It features French compositions ranging from the 1800s to the current day, including another unrecorded work by Franchomme. “I love discovering an interesting work that’s unplayed, or underplayed, because I feel like there’s not this weight of history dictating the appropriate way to perform it,” she says. “It keeps it fresh!”

— Anne-Ryan Sirju JRN’09