Called “bewitching” by 34th Street Magazine, and “splendidly clean and focused, but always lyrical…superb!” by Jay Reise, President of Orchestra 2001, classical guitarist Michael Poll is committed to developing the role of classical music in contemporary society by expanding the place of the guitar in the world. In furthering this mission, he has performed across North America, South America, and Europe, including in Aspen, Baltimore, Berlin, Cambridge, Cologne, Florence, Krakow, London, Manchester, New York, Panama, Paris, Poznan, and Philadelphia in such notable venues as the Wigmore Hall and the National Theatre of Panama.
Since leading the 2003 premier of Cuatro Microsonoridades by Emiliano Pardo-Tristán with his brother Edward Poll at the keyboard, Michael Poll has worked to expand the guitar’s repertoire through collaboration, at present with composers William Dougherty, Jeremy Jennings, Andrew McPherson, and Elizabeth Ogonek. Mr. Poll’s own works, Hatikvar and Preludes were premiered in 2012 as a part of the String Spring festival in Dresden, Germany.
A 2010 Fulbright and a 2012 Marshall Scholar, Michael Poll holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, and has completed coursework at the Curtis Institute of Music in conducting with Virginia Allen and in solfège with Eric Sessler. In 2012 he was granted the Graduate Performance Diploma from the Academy of Music in Poznan, and is currently working on a Masters degree with Robert Brightmore at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. His teachers have included Frederic Hand, Lukasz Kuropaczewski, Emiliano Pardo-Tristán, Benjamin Verdery, and Piotr Zaleski.
Mr. Poll has served as a member of the faculty of the Bryn Mawr Conservatory of Music and the Polish Guitar Academy, was a fellow of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and has held scholarships to the Aspen Music Festival and the European American Musical Alliance, where, as a conductor, he lead the premier of Zachary Swan’s The Clearing for choir in Salle Franck of La Schola Cantorum. He has performed live on the radio in Poland and Panama, and been featured in two films. In his free time, he enjoys swimming, cycling, cooking, and traveling.