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Cello News
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Concert Cancelled after Cellist Alisa Weilerstein Tests Covid-19 Positive
However, after receiving negative results from testing musicians and staff members, the society will hold the remaining concerts.
We wish Weilerstein a speedy recovery.
Click here to read the full story by George Varga.
Genre-Defying Cellist Abel Selaocoe Signs with Warner Classics
He said:
“I am so excited to be joining the Warner Music family. A great home where my love for African and Classical music can live in one space. Many adventures ahead. Makwande!”
The Vice President of Warner Classics A&R, Bertrand Castellani, expressed his delight with the new signing:
“What is remarkable about Abel Selaocoe’s artistry is his ability to unify multiple genres with absolute ease and conviction – whether he is playing a Bach Sarabande, improvising on African songs or creating new sounds on voice and cello. It is an honour to welcome Abel into the Warner Classics family and we’re all excited to help share his musicianship worldwide.”
Congratulations to Selaocoe and Warner on this signing. We look forward to the resulting new recordings.
Cellist David Teie Created the Soundtrack to the New Whiskas Ad
Teie created the soundtrack for this ad and a related playlist available on Spotify and YouTube. You may have seen some of his Music for Cats tracks we shared via Facebook to celebrate various cat days in the past. Teie’s work has been proven to reduce stress levels in cats.
Click here to read the full article by Sara Nelson.
Here are Teie’s Music for Cats albums:
Congratulations to Cellist David Liam Roberts, the Canada Council for the Arts 2021 First Prize Winner
Click here to go to read an interview with both winners by Anya Wassenberg in Ludwig Van Toronto.
Interview with Cellist Natalie Haas
Photo by Irene Young.
Cellist Natalie Haas, famous for her traditional music performances, recently spoke to Vanessa McGowan before her performance at the Nordic Fiddlefest in Wisconsin.
Haas told McGowan that she started playing the cello at age nine after her sister started the violin. Her sister’s violin teacher recommended the cello for Natalie so that the sisters would not be competing with one another.
McGowan asked what Haas hopes aspiring cellists and folk musicians get grom hearing the concert at the Fiddlefest. Haas said:
“[I] hope if there are any cellists in the audience that they will be inspired to look into using the cello as a folk instrument. It often gets relegated to the classical realm, yet it can do so much more!”
Click here to read the full article by Vanessa McGowan.
Here are Haas and her sister Brittany playing together:
Nebraska Program, String Sprouts, Gives Students a Life-long Love of Music
Cello students follow along during a String Sprouts class.
he String Sprouts program created by the Omaha Conservatory of Music in Omaha, Nebraska. The program teaches children as young as three years old and continues through age ten.
String Sprouts provides violin, viola, cello and bass instruction, instrument included, to children in underserved areas at no cost to caregivers to those who qualify.
R.I.P. Cellist and Conductor Ulysses Kirksey
The Petersburg Symphony Orchestra (Virginia) conductor for over 30 years and cellist Ulysses S. Kirksey, III (8 May 1949 – 13 August 2021), has died in the hospice unit of St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond, VA.
Kirksey, a saxophonist who switched to the cello, joined the orchestra in 1980 two years after it was established by Dr. F. Nathaniel Gatlin. After Gatlin died, Kirksey picked up the baton and led the orchestra for the next 30+ years.
Click here to read the full article by Bill Atkinson.
We offer our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. R.I.P. Ulysses S. Kirksey, III. Here is a fitting memorial piece. This is a recording he made in April 2020, playing the Sarabande from Bach Suite No. 5:
Podcasts / Broadcasts
Attention Please! – Cello Meets Piano
(Airdate: August 16, 2021)
In anticipation of their August 27 Candlelight Concert, pianist Sheila Harwood and cellist Pamela Roberts discuss their lives in music and the pieces they will play, including a Fantasy by Schumann recorded for Attention Please!. Beth Kissinger, of Trinity United Methodist Church, presents the concert, giving details for attending, which will be both livestreamed and broadcast on KPTZ.
Click here to listen to this show.
The concert will be live-streamed here. You will find the link for ways to donate at this link, too.
Click here to learn more about the artists.
Scores & Pours Episode 108 – Composer Oleksa Lozowchuk and Cellist Blair Lofgren
Albums
Nina Kotova and José Feghali – Brahms, Reger, Schumann
Release date: 30 July 2021
Warner Classics
Here is one track from the CD:
Hannah Collins – Resonance Lines
Release date: 25 September 2021
Sono Luminus
Both the title and the concept for the album reflect Collins’ background in both biomedical engineering and music.
Resonance Lines, a term borrowed loosely from physics, refers to the energy emitted or absorbed by an atom as it transitions between different energy states. This is a unique and innate quality for each type of atom that can only be measured and observed under the right enabling circumstances.
The repertoire also reflects the music of the past and
highlights the voices of female, LGBTQ+, and multiracial composers reflects an intersection of identities which resonates with my own experience as a musician, artist, and person,” says Collins.
Read more about the album in Alexa Criscitiello’s article on Broadway World.
Here is one piece on her new album:
Cellist Jeremiah Moon – Debut Album Sputnik
Release date: autumn 2021
Enci Records
Jeremiah Moon, a classically trained cellist, is also a singer, songwriter, and illustrator. He said of the new album:
“The underlying thread, like all 5 songs on the EP, is connection between people – the ways that we try to understand each other, and the ways we change each others’ orbits.”
Click here to read more about this album in an article by Jarod.
Here is one track from the upcoming album:
Videos
Hauser – Cello Cover of “Chandelier” by Sia
The Piano Guys – Cello and Piano Cover of “Anyone” by Justin Bieber
Festival “Le Goût de la musique” de Luçon – Alexis Descharmes and Etsuko Hirose Play Schumann
Stéphane Tétreault and Marie-Eve Scarfone – Rachmaninov Cello Sonata in g minor, Op. 19, II.Allegro Scherzando
Kari Juusela – Oiseaux Verts
A cello quartet composed and performed by Dr. Kari Juusela
Video also by Dr. Kari Juusela
Riccardo Pes – Ubi Caritas
Luca Paccagnella – Zoltán Kodály Sonata in b minor, Op. 8, II. Adagio con gran espressione
UK Jazz Cellist Rupert Gillett – “At Last”
Leecher – “Blind and Frozen” (Beast In Black cover)
“Symphonic Cello Metal – not an expression music lovers can encounter every day.”
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