Long acknowledged as one of the world’s master cellists, Aldo Parisot has led the career of a complete artist – as concert soloist, chamber musician, recitalist and teacher. He has been heard with the major orchestras of the world, including Berlin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Rio, Munich, Warsaw, Chicago, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh under the batons of such eminent conductors as Stokowski, Barbirolli, Bernstein, Mehta, Monteux, Paray, Carvalho, Sawallisch, Hindemith and Villa-Lobos. As an artist seeking to expand his instrument’s repertoire, Mr. Parisot has premiered numerous works for the cello, written  especially for him by such composers as Carmago Guarnieri, Quincy Porter, Alvin Etler, Claudio Santoro, Joan Panetti, Yehudi Wyner and Villa-Lobos, whose Cello Concerto No. 2 (written for and dedicated to him) was premiered by Mr. Parisot in his New York Philharmonic debut. Since then, he has appeared with the Philharmonic on nearly a dozen occasions.
Born in Natal, Brazil, Mr. Parisot began studying the cello at age seven with his stepfather, Tomazzo Babini, and made his professional debut at age twelve. He came to the United States in 1946 and made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, followed by extensive touring in the United States, Canada, and South America. His first European tour was in 1957, and since then he has toured annually as a solo cellist throughout the world. Mr. Parisot’s recital activities have been equally international since his Town Hall debut in 1950, and recent appearances have included London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, and both Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York. Washington D.C. was the scene of another recent coup by Mr. Parisot when he played the difficult and rarely performed Schoenberg Cello Concerto in the Kennedy Center. In the spring of 1976, Mr. Parisot made a five-week tour of Poland, which included concerts with orchestras and recitals. He created  a sensation when he introduced Donald Martino’s composition for solo cello entitled “Parisonatina Al’Dodecafonia” at the Tanglewood Festival. The New York Times remarked: “Those at this performance are not going to forget [Parisot’s] feat overnight,” and the Boston Globe wrote that “…there is probably no cellist that can equal Parisot’s dazzling achievement.” Harold Schonberg of the New York Times has said of him: “A very strong technician with a sweet tone and impeccable intonation, he is altogether a superior instrumentalist and musician.” Articles have appeared about him in a number of magazines including the New York Herald Tribune Magazine, Music and Artists, Musical America, Music Journal, New York Magazine, U.S. Camera, They Talk About Music, Reader’s Digest, The Strad, and Instrumentalist,  as well as in innumerable articles in newspapers around the globe.
Mr. Parisot has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors over the years, including gold medals and honorary citizenships from Lebanon and Brazil. In 1980 Mr. Parisot received the Eva Janzer “Chevalier du Violoncelle” award given by Indiana University. In September of 1982, he was awarded the United Nations Peace Medal following his performance at its Staff Day ceremonies, and in 1983 he received the Artist/Teacher Award presented by the American String Teachers Association. In May of 1997, Mr. Parisot received the Governor’s Arts Award from the State of Connecticut for outstanding achievement as a musician and teacher.
He has also served on the juries of several international competitions, including those in Munich, Florence, Chile, Brazil, Evian and Paris (Rostropovich), as well as several others in the United States and Canada. In November of 1991, he traveled to Helsinki, Finland to participate on the jury of the first Paulo International Cello Competition and to give master classes at the Sibelius Academy. In June of 1992, Mr. Parisot gave a series of master classes at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea and in May of 1994, he gave master classes at the Manchester International Cello Festival, where he also conducted the cello ensemble. Most recently he toured Taiwan in January of 2000, performing with faculty colleagues to aid earthquake relief in that country. Performances and classes are scheduled for Mexico, Venezuela, and Korea in the near future.
During his career, Mr. Parisot has served on the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory, Mannes School of Music, the Juilliard School, and the New England Conservatory. He has been a distinguished artist on the string master class faculty at the Banff Centre in Canada since 1980, returning each summer for several weeks of teaching and performing. In addition, he appears often at the Yale Summer School in Norfolk and at several other summer festivals
Since 1977, students from all over the world have come to Brazil to attend the Aldo Parisot International Competitions: the Josef Gingold Violin Competition, the Bruno Giuranna Viola Competition, and the Aldo Parisot-Janos Starker Cello Competition. In addition, students are able to participate in a series of master classes given by all of the distinguished artists named above.  In 1984, Mr. Parisot spent a month in China, giving master classes and auditioning students, and he was invited back there the following year. Since 1987, he has been invited each spring to give two weeks of master classes and performances at the Jerusalem Music Center in Israel. He has participated in festivals in several European countries, including the Academie et Concours International de Violoncelle, sponsored by the Paris Conservatory and held at the Moulin D’Ande in France, and the International Music Institute in Spain.
Alan Rich of New York Magazine has said of his master classes: “The master classes are extraordinary – Parisot has that enormous, rare gift of translating musical feeling into solid information about what to do with a set of fingers and a bow. Maybe there are master classes for clarinet, or trombone, somewhere in the world, but I doubt that they operate on the level of intensity that you find at Parisot’s classes at Yale…as a teacher, he is an object of pilgrimage.”
In addition to his musical pre-eminence, Mr. Parisot is also a noted graphic artist. His tour of Poland also included exhibitions of his abstracts in acrylic, and his paintings have been shown at a number of galleries, including those in Boston, New York, New Haven and Palm Beach. He and his wife, pianist Elizabeth Sawyer, make their home in the Connecticut countryside, keeping a perennial open house for his many students who have literally come from all over the world to study with the master. Many of his students have been top prize winners in competitions such as Moscow and Rio and several are pursuing solo careers. In addition, orchestras in Europe, South America and North America are showing an increasing number of Parisot students on their rosters. A large number of cellists on string faculties throughout the country were once Parisot students.