Johann Sebastian Paetsch is an American cellist and musician.
Early musical education
Paetsch began his cello studies with his father, Günther Paetsch, at the age of 5, and gave his first recital when he was 6 years old. His extensive experience in chamber music began early in childhood with his large and talented family of 9. His three sisters Phebe, Michaela and Brigitte and his three brothers Christian, Engelbert and Siegmund all learned string instruments. He learned and performed almost the entire chamber music repertoire for strings with his family The Paetsch Chamber Music Ensemble in many concerts throughout the U.S.
As soloist, he has taken stage in many capitals of the world, performing concertos by Haydn, Dvořák, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and others. His performances and recordings of the Double Concerto in collaboration with sister and violinist Michaela Paetsch, have taken place in the USA, Canada, Switzerland and in Germany. He has been featured soloist with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in performances and recordings of great pieces such as Boccherini, Camille Saint-Saëns, Kabalevsky and the two Haydn Concertos, as well as Don Quixote with conductorAlain Lombard. At Yale University Paetsch met his future wife: violinist Yoko Miyagawa and they married in Lugano, Switzerland in 1994. Paetsch's first daughter Raphaela, born in Lugano in 1996, also plays the cello. His daughter Valentina, born in 1998 plays the violin and his son Dominic plays the cello. Raphaela, Valentina and Dominic have performed string quintetsin public with their father and mother. Since 1992 Paetsch has served as First Solo Cellist of the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland. He also was founder of a piano trio called the Trio Ceresio, which has performed in Europe, Japan as well as Brazil.
Critical reception
Paetsch's work has been well received by a music critics worldwide. A writer from the Lübecker Nachrichten wrote "...a brilliant virtuoso piece which demanded all the finesse of everything that one could imagine from a cellist, delighted the audience and brought them to a thundering applause." A review in The Strad magazine applauded his cellistic abilities, saying he was "A CELLIST of extraordinary flair...His playing is at once stylish and communicative and of virtuoso stamp." In addition, a music critic from The New Haven Register wrote that "Paetsch brought great intensity and depth of understanding to this complex work.... the second movement was exquisitely eerie. His multiple-stop work stood out both for its lyrical beauty and technical excellence."
