Natalia Khoma

Professor, Cello

Education

Performance/Recording Highlights

Internationally renowned cellist, Natalia Khoma, has been hailed around the world as “technically dazzling”, “intense, brilliant, and with perfect structure”. She also has been praised for “the precision of her executions, Slavic Zen, full warm cello tone….and, what a drive!” “A deeply emotional yet meticulously precise reading, full of fire, that transcended the barriers of music, musician, and audience”. 

Natalia made her first public appearance on TV at age ten and performed her first concerto with orchestra at age thirteen. Since winning First Prize at the Lysenko Cello Competition, while still a student in high school, Khoma has won top prizes at the Budapest Pablo Casals International Competition, Markneukirchen Competition in Germany, and the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow, as well as First Prize at the Jeunesses Musicales Belgrade International Cello Competition. 

A native of Lviv, Ukraine, Ms. Khoma studied at Solomia Krushelnytska School for gifted children with Evhen Shpitzer, at the Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Shakhovskaya and in the United States, received an Artist Diploma from Boston University under the direction of Leslie Parnas. 

The first and only Ukrainian cellist to become a laureate of the Tchaikovsky Competition, Natalia Khoma has since distinguished herself as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras throughout Ukraine as well as the U.S., Canada, South America, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Eastern Europe, South Africa and the Middle and Far East. 

She has performed as a soloist with such leading ensembles as the Berlin Radio Orchestra, Moscow Radio Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Ukrainian National State Symphony Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Ensemble of New York City Symphony Orchestra, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and has had solo recitals in Tchaikovsky Hall (Moscow), Carnegie Hall Weil Recital Hall and Steinway Hall (New York), Merkin Hall (Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York), Jordan Hall and Tsai Performance Center (Boston), Schauspielhaus (Berlin, Germany), Palais des Beux Arts (Brussels, Belgium), Amphitheatre Richelieu de la Sorbonne and Salons de Boffrand de la Presidence du Senat (Paris, France), Esterhazy Palace (Shopron, Hungary), Big Hall Academy of Music (Oslo, Norway), Cremona Opera Theatre (Italy), Grand Hall at Queen's University and Dunning Hall (Kingston, Canada), Teatro Juan Bravo (Segovia, Spain), the Governor’s Palace (Curacao, Netherlands Antilles), Philharmonic Big Hall of Columns (Kyiv, Ukraine), Lviv Philharmonic Hall and Odesa Philharmonic Theatre (Ukraine), Teatro de Santa Isabel in Recife (Brazil), Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg and Baxter Theatre Centre Concert Hall (Cape Town, South Africa), Gaillard Center and Sottile Theatre (Charleston), Wharton Center for Performing Arts (MSU, Lansing MI), Britton Recital Hall (UofM, Ann Arbor MI), Jesse Auditorium (University of Missouri, MO), Ward Recital Hall The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC), McKenna Theatre  SUNY (New Paltz, NY), Rudolph Ganz Memorial Hall Chicago Musical College (Roosevelt University), Regenstein Recital Hall (Northwestern University, Chicago), Dalton Center Recital Hall (Western Michigan University), Swope Hall Auditorium (West Chester University PA), Chicago Cultural Center (Chicago, IL), Bing Theater (Los Angeles, CA), von der Mehden Recital Hall (UConn, CT), Bernheim Hall (Mobile AL), Sauder Concert Hall (Goshen College, IN), Center for the Arts Concert Hall and Hylton Center (George Mason University, VA), George Washington Auditorium (Danville, VA), Givens Performing Arts Center (Pembroke, NC), Theatre at Mayo Arts Center (Morristown, NJ), Mechanics Hall (Worcester, MA), Marston Theatre and Alaska Center for the Performing Arts Sidney Laurence Theatre (Anchorage, AK), Black Box Theatre (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), Sweeney Concert Hall Sage Hall (Smith College, Northampton MA), Weis Center for the Performing Arts (Bucknell University, PA), Baker Hall Zoellner Arts Center (Lehigh University, PA), Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre (Arlington, VA), Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (University of Illinois), Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center (Kansas City MO), Bailey Hall (Cornell University, Ithaca NY), Emerson Concert Hall, Schwartz Center (Emory University, Atlanta GA), Troy Savings Bank Music Hall (Troy, NY), Hamel Music Center (University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI)  and in a host of countries across the globe. 

She is often invited to appear at international festivals in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Canada, Ukraine, and the U.S. among others. 

Ms. Khoma has been a professor at the Lviv Conservatory in Ukraine, Roosevelt University College of Music in Chicago, Michigan State University and was a visiting professor at the University of Connecticut School of Music. In 2011, Khoma was appointed Artistic Advisor and Program Coordinator at the Music and Art Center of Greene County, New York, subsequently becoming President of the Board in 2024. 

She holds the title of Honorary Professor at Lviv State Academy of Music, Odesa State Music Academy, and Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory). 

 In 2010 Natalia was featured on a Grammy nominated CD for the Dorian Sono Luminus label. She has also recorded for NHK-TV (Japan), Naxos, TNC/Cambria, Blue Griffin, IMP, Dorian, Centaur and Ongaku labels, as well as for Ukrainian, Russian, German, Spanish, Serbian, Israeli and Hungarian Radio and Television and has appeared on WNYC-FM in New York, WGBH-FM in Boston, WCUW in Worcester and CKWR in Ontario (Canada).

For several years she played on the famous Stradivarius cello.

In February of 2020 Natalia Khoma have set an extensive North American tour as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, one of the finest Symphony Orchestras in Europe. This tour was managed by Columbia Artists, a legendary organization in the performing arts industry, a global leader in artist management. In February of 2024, Khoma was proud to once again tour with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.

In addition to her performing activities, Natalia is a Professor of Cello at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC, and a Director of the Charleston Music Fest.

Natalia serves as organizer of the Children and Music Foundation, which provides musical training, instruments, and financial aid to young, gifted Ukrainian students in need.

Research Interests

Courses Taught

MUSC 131 - Music Appreciation
MUSC 296 - Repertory Class: Cello
MUSC 355 - Chamber Music
MUSP 225 - Applied Music: Cello
MUSP 425 - Applied Music: Cello

Honors & Awards

• First Prize, 1990 Belgrade International Competition, Serbia
• Fourth Prize, 1990 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia
• Second Prize, 1987 Markneukirchen International Competition, Germany
• Max Reger Special Prize for the best performance of his music
• Diploma, 1985 Budapest Pablo Casals Competition, Hungary
• First Prize, 1981 Lysenko All Ukraine Competition, Ukraine

• Honorary Professor of Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory), 2015
• Honorary Professor of Odessa National Academy of Music, Ukraine, 2010
• Honorary Professor of Lviv National Music Academy, Ukraine, 2008