Here’s your weekly dose of cello news.
Cello News
9-year-old Cameron Renshaw on Ellen
He’s performed at Carnegie Hall five times and now he’s showed off his music skills on national television on “Ellen.” 9-year old Cameron Renshaw, who is from Grand Rapids, sat down with the daytime talk show host on her show before taking the stage for a duet with his mother. Renshaw has been playing the cello since his mother, Tina, taught him when he was five.
Belgian Armenian cellist plays Komitas at St. Ghazanchetsots Church in Shushi
Sevak Avanesyan, a Belgian cellist of Armenian descent, performed “Krunk” by Armenian composer Komitas in the destroyed Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi, on Monday. In an interview for Russian media, Avanesyan said it is “a highly emotional moment for him to be here and to play such music.”
Italian cellist Mario Brunello wishes peace to Armenia and Artsakh
Cellist Mario Brunello expressed his support to Armenia and Artsakh amid the ongoing Azerbaijani aggression. In a video message addressed to Armenian cellist Alexander Chaushyan, Mario Brunello expressed his sorry of what is happening in Armenia and Artsakh. “I hope your people, friends will achieve peace. It’s a great country for us, and I had a great honor to perform there. I hope to go back in peace for everybody”, the Italian cellist said.
Click here to go read more from the source.
Temple’s first Black Female MD, Agnes Berry Montier was Also a Cellist
Agnes Berry Montier became the first Black woman to earn her medical degree from Temple in 1912. Montier personified perseverance when deciding to become a doctor. Earlier in her life, she graduated from the Emerson School of Oratory in Boston where she studied cello. She eventually gave up intense study of the instrument to become a doctor but promoted the value of musical training for practicing physicians. The Chicago Defender wrote in 1925 that Montier “believed the objective signs of disease are closely related to acoustic phenomena such as conductivity, quality, tonality, pitch, intensity, duration, and rhythm.”
Click here to read more in the original article by Lauri Kochis.
Congratulations! Cellist and violinist win 2020 Concert Artists Guild Competition
The Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition has awarded the 2020 Grand Prize to American-Brazilian cellist Gabriel Martins and violinist Geneva Lewis, who comes from New Zealand.
Congratulations! Cellist James Li Jordan, 14, Wins Grant
A young cellist and singer whose mother encouraged him to take up music to overcome childhood shyness has received a £2,000 award in recognition of his “exceptional musical potential.” James Li Jordan, 14, from Old Windsor, studies cello and organ at Winchester College and will receive the grant to pay for key musical costs such as instruments, equipment, music lessons and travel.The award is given by Awards for Young Musicians (AYM) who help young people with exceptional musical talent.
Click here to go read more from the original source.
Cellist Alexander Rudin has been named chief conductor of the Saratov Philharmonic Orchestra in Russia
Click here to go read more from the original source.
CelloGayageum bridges music of East and West
The cello and gayageum (Korean 12-stringed zither) are representative string instruments of Western and Korean music, respectively. CelloGayageum, a duet of Austrian cellist Sol Daniel Kim and Korean gayageum player Yoon Da-young, pursues an extraordinary collaboration between East and West featuring the two similar yet different instruments. CelloGayageum opened up a new world for the performers as well as listeners.
Click here to read more from the original source.
Congratulations! Cellist Olivia Yang Wins the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerto Competition
This year’s winner, Olivia Yang, an 11th-grader at Stevens Point Area Senior High, performed the first movement of “Cello Concerto in G Minor” by Kabalevsky.
Cellist Bruno Philippe Signed to Askonas Holt Management
This week, Askonas Holt, in London, announced the signing of French cellist Bruno Philippe for worldwide general management.
Read more here on The Violin Channel.
Congratulations! Cellist Ellen Baumring-Gledhill Wins Junior Guildhall Lutine Prize 2020
Guildhall School of Music & Drama is delighted to announce that cellist Ellen Baumring-Gledhill has been awarded First Prize at the final of Junior Guildhall’s most prestigious award: the Lutine Prize.
Click here to go read more from the original source.
Yo-Yo Ma to Give First Live Performances Since February in Taiwan
World renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友) will be in Taiwan next month to give his first performances before live audiences since February after health agencies approved a shortened quarantine plan for the musician, the organizers said Friday.
Ma was originally scheduled to perform in Taiwan in March as part of “The Bach Project” tour he started in August 2018, but his visit was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
He will now begin his tour in Taiwan with a solo performance at Taipei Music Center on Nov. 10, local promoter The Management of New Arts (MNA) said after the government approved a shortened quarantine period for him similar to that available to business travelers.
Podcasts / Radio Programs
New Classical Tracks: Cellist Hee-Young Lim on Russian Sonatas
This week on New Classical Tracks, cellist Hee-Young Lim talks about her upcoming release of Russian cello sonatas. Enter the giveaway for a chance to win a copy of the CD!
From the Studio: Zuill Bailey, “Across the Miles”
Cellist and NWBachfest Artistic Director Zuill Bailey dropped by the KPBX studio for an in-person (!) chat with Jim Tevenan around the festival’s latest offering, a virtual series called “Across the Miles.”
Rosa Thompson-Viera – A Professional Cellist in Love with Her Work
The second of a series of interviews with some of the creative and energetic Millenials of Minneapolis and St. Paul, this conversation reviews the musical performance journey of Ms. Rosa Thompson-Viera – a professional cellist now residing in St. Paul. Challenged like so many of us during the pandemic, Rosa has been able to stay active as a teacher/performer and student of the cello. Our conversation runs about 45 minutes.
Click here to listen to the podcast.
Albums
Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Stott Announce New Album Songs Of Comfort And Hope Available December 11 — Preorder Now
Songs of Comfort and Hope is inspired by the series of recorded-at-home musical offerings that Ma began sharing in the first days of the COVID-19 lockdown in the United States. Throughout the spring and summer, Yo-Yo Ma’s #SongsofComfort grew from a self-shot video of Antonín Dvořák’s “Goin’ Home” into a worldwide effort that has reached more than 18 million people.
The Chakras: A Deep Cello Journey
This album is the instrumental companion to The Wong Janice’s 10-day Chakra Cleansing with Deep Cello audio course on the meditation app Insight Timer, which is designed to help you release emotional blockages, through the healing and restorative power of sound and guided voice over. Link to the course: insighttimer.com/meditation-courses/course_the-wong-janice
The Wong Janice is currently performing these pieces live weekly on the meditation app Insight Timer which are free to attend. Check this link to join: www.thewongjanice.com/listen
Lontano by Cellist Anja Lechner and Pianist François Couturier – Released on 16 October
Lontano is the second album Lechner and Couturier have recorded as a duo of just violoncello and piano following their 2014 album Moderato Cantabile. This album is not just a sequel to this earlier release – which was principally a recording of music by composers such as Mompou and Gurdjieff – it also allows the two musicians the space to improvise. This is relatively unusual for a classically trained cellist, although this is far from the first time that Lechner has done so, but is surely second nature for Couturier whose background is as a jazz pianist, performing with the likes of Michel Portal and John McLaughlin.
The musical definition of lontano is ‘away’ or ‘afar’, and the album can be viewed as the expression of music clearly informed by influences beyond the normal confines of the Western classical tradition. The music also has a kind of spiritual yearning that is sometimes achingly beautiful, sometimes disconcertingly discordant, and very often both atmospheric and meditative.
Read more here in the review by Graham Spry, excerpted here.
Videos
Adolphus Hailstork Sonata for Solo Cello – 1st movement
Cello: Dr. Kristen Yeon-Ji Yun (Cello Professor at Colorado Mesa University)
The First United Methodist Church, Grand Junction, CO
Oct/14/2020 Little Noon Concert
CBC Music – The Intro: Stick & Bow
The cello and marimba are rarely paired in a duo, but Montreal’s Stick&Bow have combined the two instruments to form a groundbreaking, boundary-pushing group that’s catching a lot of attention.
Krystina Marcoux (on marimba, a.k.a. the stick), and Juan Sebastian Delgado (on the cello, a.k.a. the bow) are classically trained musicians who play a variety of styles ranging from rock to tango, with a repertoire that includes music by Radiohead, Nina Simone, Bach and Schumann, as well as original pieces from contemporary composers.
In this episode of CBC Music’s The Intro, Stick&Bow perform “Love me or Leave Me” (as popularized by Nina Simone) and Folk Suite for Cello and Marimba, composed by Jason Noble. They chat with CBC Music Mornings host Saroja Coelho about their music.
Your Turn
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