Musician Bio

Austin Huntington was appointed principal cellist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 2015 at the age of 20, making him one of the youngest principal musicians in a major American orchestra. He was recently the runner-up for the San Francisco Symphony’s principal cello position in March 2022 and a finalist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s principal cello position in March 2018, as well as the winner of the Utah Symphony’s principal cello position in May 2023. He has been featured as guest principal cello with the San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. During the summer, Austin serves as principal cellist for the Mainly Mozart Festival and Colorado Music Festival Orchestras.

Austin is a former first prize winner of the Stulberg and Irving M. Klein international string competitions and is a top prize winner of the Schadt national cello competition. He has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, Marin Symphony, Colburn Orchestra, Santa Cruz Symphony, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and the Salomon Chamber Orchestra.

An avid chamber musician, Austin has collaborated with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Augustin Hadelich, Wu Han, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Garrick Ohlssohn, and Edgar Meyer. He was previously a faculty member at Indiana University and the University of Indianapolis as well as Chair of the Indianapolis Suzuki Academy’s Board of Directors.

Austin holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music and a Masters of Music degree from Indiana University, where he studied with Ronald Leonard and Eric Kim respectively.