John Kaboff is a distinguished cellist and educator based in the Washington, D.C. area. He is the founder and director of The Kaboff Cello School, where he has been teaching pre-college students since 1995. He has earned accolades for his teaching by numerous world-class cellists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Janos Starker. His students have achieved notable success, winning prizes in local and regional competitions and continuing on to attend prestigious institutions such as the Curtis Institute, Indiana University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He currently serves as the Director of Chamber Music for the Capital Symphonic Youth Orchestra and Chairman of the Washington International Competition for Strings while also judging many competitions.
John’s performance career includes solo and chamber performances at esteemed venues like Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, The United States Department of State, and the embassies of Germany, France, and New Zealand. Internationally, he has performed in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Australia. John is widely known for his cello ensemble, the Bow Lightlys, which has performed at events like the World Cello Congress III and the Sixth American Cello Congress. He has been a guest lecturer and conducted master classes at prestigious universities around the world. John earned Bachelor and Master degrees from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and has studied at the Britton-Peers Summer School (England), the Holland Music Session (Netherlands), and the International Academy of Chamber Music (now known as the Kronberg Academy in Kronberg, Germany).