"...a seductive performance of Heitor Villa-Lobos' 'Bachiana Brasileiras No.5' by soprano Audrey Luna and the eight cellos (!) of the Tarab Cello Ensemble."
- Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press,
Detroit MI

"...the Tarab Cello Ensemble gives a heart-rendering reading of the octet, Broken Cries."
- John Pitcher, Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester NY

"... a masterful concert of nothing but music written in the twenty-first century ... Nine diverse pieces all executed magnificently... the eight cellists playing as if they have been performing for many years."
- Koren Cowgill, Classical New Jersey Society Journal

Recognized for its artistic creativity, Tarab Cello Ensemble is dedicated to the commissioning and performance of twenty-first century American music for eight cellos, with the goal of establishing a vital contemporary repertoire for this instrumentation. Since its inception in 2000, the ensemble has premiered more than twenty works, from such composers as Larry Bell, Caleb Burhans, Garrett Byrnes, Dennis DeSantis, David Liptak, Brad Lubman, Gregory Mertl, Joe Michaels, Sam Pellman, Martin Scherzinger, Aaron Travers, and Dan Trueman. Its repertoire also includes such compositions as Pierre Boulez' Messagesquisse, Arvo Pärt's Fratres, Augusta Read Thomas’ Blizzard in Paradise and Luciano Berio's Korot.

Tarab Cello Ensemble has presented concerts in Michigan, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Florida, Mexico, and France, with broadcast performances on public radio stations WMUK (Kalamazoo, MI), WMBR (Cambridge, MA), WXXI (Rochester, NY), WCNY (Syracuse, NY) and WGDR (Plainfield, VT). Tarab has appeared as guest ensemble in residence at Princeton University, Patel Conservatory in Florida and the University of South Florida. Recently the ensemble premiered Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon’s Silueta como Sirena for voice, eight cellos, and orchestra in New York City with the Riverside Symphony Orchestra and additional performances in Mazatlán and Culiacán (Mexico) with the Orquesta Sinfonia Sinaloa de las Artes.

The Ensemble has received grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fromm Foundation, the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music, and the Foreman Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts.
Tarab Cello Ensemble has recorded on Bridge Records and Albany Records.

Its members are Elizabeth Brown, Adam Carter, Alex Greenbaum, Susannah Kelly, Kevin McFarland,
Laura Metcalf, Michael Midlarsky, and Florent Renard-Payen, founder.