Cellos in the News: Top Stories of the Week

Here’s your weekly dose of cello news.

Cello News

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Casals Museum Re-Opens in Puerto Rico After Three-Year Closure

Cellos in the News: Top Stories of the Week - 2 July

Museo Casa Pilar Defilló, the former residence of the mother of Pau Casals.

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO – After a three-year closure, the Pilar Defilló House Museum, the former home of Pau Casals’s mother, will re-open this August. The museum had been closed after sustaining hurricane and earthquake damage.

The 19th-century mansion was the home of Casals’s mother and the site

where [Casals] performed his first concert from the balcony after arriving in Puerto Rico on December 17, 1955.

Julian Lloyd Webber: “The longest relationship I’ve had is with my cello”

Julian Lloyd Webber, Cello wizard, recent OBE recipient. Solo cellist who has been described as the ‘doyen of British cellists.’ Photo: Linda Nylind / eyevine.

The Big Issue featured Julian Lloyd Webber last week in an article called “Julian Lloyd Webber’s Letter to his Younger Self.” It’s well worth reading the entire article, but here are two cello-related excerpts.

The first is about his cello:

The longest relationship I’ve had is with my cello. I got it in 1983, I stopped playing in 2014. Over 30 years I was with that cello, that one instrument playing incredible concerts all over the world with some incredible musicians, and it was like a unit. I knew how it was going to play. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a pianist and to turn up at a concert hall, every time a different instrument. The instrument made me feel secure and I think we both knew what each other wanted.

The second is about playing in Hong Kong:

I would tell my younger self about the most extraordinary concert. I performed at the changeover in Hong Kong, the night before the old regime moved out [in 1997]. All the politicians were there from both sides. The first half of the concert was British music and I closed with the Elgar Cello Concerto. The second half was all Chinese music, a Chinese orchestra and a new Chinese composition. I knew it was going to be a big event. I wasn’t ready for the atmosphere. It really felt like the end of an era. The Elgar Cello Concerto is emotional and has this nostalgia about it anyway, that night it felt extraordinary. You could feel it in the hall. A fear of the change. I’ve rarely felt that kind of tension. I’ll never forget that.

Read the full article by Steven MacKenzie.

Cellist Jan Vogler Collaborates with Bill Murray in Upcoming Film

This is the official trailer for New Worlds: The Cradle of Civilization, a documentary film about Bill Murray, Jan Vogler, and Friend’s final performance of their European “New Worlds” tour in Greece.

The film is scheduled to be released on 11 July 2021.

The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Appointed Cellist Hannah Roberts as Visiting Artist

Cellist Hannah Roberts

BIRMINGHAM, UK – The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire appointed cellist Hannah Roberts as a Visiting Artist.

The soloist, chamber musician and Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, will be giving regular masterclasses to student cellists. She will also act as a continuing influence throughout each student’s time at RBC.

Click here to read the full story.

Cello Student Allie Bullman Makes a Cello to Donate to Arts without Boundaries for Honors Project

BILLINGS, MT – Cello student Allie Bullman made a cello as her Platinum Project for her Billings Senior High School honors credits. She started with a pre-built body and neck and completed the instrument.

She did some fundraising to cover the costs of the materials, but the pandemic shut down events where she was collecting donations. In the end, she had to pay for the materials from money she raised through dog sitting and other odd jobs.

She is donating the cello to the Arts without Boundaries program.

Read the full article by Casey Conlon here.

Podcasts / Broadcasts

Performance Today Weekend: Yo-Yo Ma & Emanuel Ax

Yo-Yo Ma & Emanuel Ax (1971) Photo by Dorothea von Haeften.

The segment with Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax is in the second half of the show, beginning about 1:00:00. Click here to listen. Here is the description from Performance Today:

In the early 1970s, two Juilliard students met and became close friends. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax. Their friendship has spanned almost half a century now, and their musical collaborations go back more than 40 years. On today’s show, Fred talks to Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma about music and emotions, and we’ll hear from their brand new album Hope Amid Tears.

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Interlochen Public Radio – In Studio A with Three Cellos

John Marshall, Patrick Owen, and Crispin Campbell perform in Studio A

Listen to a pre-concert talk by cellists John Marshall, Patrick Owen, and Crispin Campbell. The program was “Three Cellos play Three Centuries of Music.”

Click here to listen and to read the article by Kate Botello.