The Good, the Strange, and the Beautiful Cello News of the Week
Cellist Emma Chothani Earns Girl Scout Gold Award
Emma Chothani
Read how Emma gave back to her community by leading a music-tutoring program. She combined her musical skills, Girl Scouts, and community service to make a difference and earn the highest achievement in Girl Scouting.
“I knew I really wanted to do something with music for my project, so I reached out to some people with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Musicians Care Fund,” she said. “They already do partnerships with Pittsburgh Public Schools and other schools that have faced budget cuts to their music programs.”
Click here to view the original web page at thealmanac.net
Cello and Insects: A Beautiful Short Film by Duncan Cowles
Watch the Making of ‘In the Company of Insects’ by Duncan Cowles. He has a great sense of humor, and the footage is beautiful.
Click here to view the original web page at stationarytravels.wordpress.com
Named for a Cellist: The Emma Crawford Coffin Races and Festival
Emma Crawford
Check out this article by Rob Carrigan. He tells the story of a Colorado musician who played a number of instruments, including the cello. Most remember her in death rather than life:
Since 1995, Manitou Springs has been holding the annual Emma Crawford Coffin Races and Parade. As one local website described it, “costumed impersonators of Emma Crawford, a 19th-century local who was buried on nearby Red Mountain, ride on coffin-like contraptions pulled by teams of four mourners. (Emma supposedly still haunts the mountain even though her coffin washed away years after her burial.)
Click here to view the original web page at coloradorestlessnative.blogspot.com
A Neuroimaging Comparative Study of Changes in a Cellist’s Brain When Playing Contemporary and Baroque Styles
Almudena González, Pompeyo Pérez, Manuel Santapaude, Julián J. González, Cristián D. Modroño
Old and new, science and cello. The following image and quote are excerpts. Be sure to click on the link for more information.
Functional magnetic resonance images of encephalic regions from 13 professional cellists while interpreting Baroque and Contemporary excerpts inside an MRI scanner were acquired. Activation and connectivity encephalic maps show common cortical motor and sensorial regions (Precentral, Postcentral and Supramarginal Gyri) in both interpretation styles, but with different hemispheric intensity levels. However, certain auditory and motor regions only activate during Baroque.
Click here to view the original web page at www.sciencedirect.com
Articles About Cellists and the Pandemic
Cellist Zack Reaves Traveled a Lot until the Pandemic
Read to find out how he shifted his focus from performing in the outside world to creating videos at home.
“I will say that the pandemic is forcing musicians to think outside the box, especially classical musicians,” he says.
Click here to view the original web page at sharpsandflatirons.com
We Isolate Now So When We Gather Again No One is Missing
Check out “Staying the Course,” a short but inspirational article, including a wonderful photo of cellist Wilhelmina Smith.
Click here to view the original web page at moxieloveandpizzazz.blogspot.com
A Doncaster Cellist Shares His Experiences of Being a Musician During the Pandemic
Stephen Donoghue has played only two gigs since the restrictions eased and has found it difficult as a music teacher and freelance musician. However, he has still been able to do some busking and remains optimistic:
As a regular busker in Doncaster town centre Stephen was afraid that Covid-19 would kill off the opportunity for public music events but he says whilst it’s different it’s still possible to play for a bustling audience.
Click here to view the original web page at www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk
During Lockdown, Cellist Janet Schiff Has Concentrated on Collaborations and Her New Album
Cellist Janet Schiff and drummer Victor DeLorenzo named their band as a tribute to her cello, which was made in the year NINETEEN THIRTEEN. During the lockdown, she:
Turned to visual art for inspiration and comfort, like in other challenging times. I started to notice the posts of Nirmal Raja’s work with masks. Eventually the accomplished interdisciplinary artist asked me if I would collaborate by recording a sound installation for her exhibit, “Feeble Barriers” at Grove Gallery.
The Kanneh-Masons in the News
The Kanneh-Masons Release a New Album Today (November 6 in the USA)
They were keen for the album to be aimed squarely at children. It is all part of their mission to demystify classical music, especially for young people.
“Classical music isn’t seen as that accessible to many children,” says Isata. “We feel there should be more classical music aimed at children.”
Click here to view the original web page at www.bbc.co.uk
Not only is Sheku Kanneh-Mason a young super-star cellist – but he is also a man of his word.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a man of his word. Despite coronavirus chaos, the cellist who performed at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding is to keep a date agreed over two years ago to play a concert in Kensington tomorrow with a conductor friend from his Royal Academy of Music days.
Click here to go to the original source www.standard.co.uk
Sheku Kanneh-Mason Secures Donation for Youth Symphony
Sheku Kanneh-Mason is making a difference in the world. He
secured a generous donation in his honour by a private donor to the Antigua and Barbudy Youth Orchestra.
Click here to go to the original source antiguaobserver.com
Albums
Pre-Order Cellist Lori Goldston’s New Album: On A Moonlit Hill in Slovenia
Lori Goldston:
studied under Maxine Neuman and Milford Graves at Bennington, played with Nirvana, Earth and David Byrne as well as with and for a host of composers ranging from Terry Riley to Ellen Fullman . . .
Read the story behind Ofra Harnoy’s On the Rock
Ofra Harnoy’s new album, On the Rock, is inspired by her new home in Newfoundland and Labrador. “I’ve spent my entire life travelling. And from the moment we arrived here three years ago, this just felt like the place I want to call home.”
Click here to view the original web page at www.cbc.ca
Brooklyn Cellist and Singer Tallie Gabriel Releases Her Debut EP: Little Death
The 5 song EP explores Tallie Gabriel’s incredible poetry, musicianship, and vulnerability as it goes through the stages of allowing yourself to fall for someone, the disappointment of that relationship not quite working as you’d hoped . . .
Click here to view the original web page at divinemagazine.biz
Videos
My Neighbor Totoro: “Tonari no Totoro” – An Uplifting 5-Cello Cover by Jeremy Tai
Love Totoro? Sit back and enjoy.
Cellists in this video: Jeremy Tai Peter Eom Haddon Kay Sihao He Luiz Fernando Moita Venturelli de Souza
Be sure to check out Jeremy Tai’s description and links.
Hope: Live at Sculpture Park – a Cello and Dance Collaboration
The Colorado Ballet and cellist Charles Lee have created this beautiful video to support their Relief and Recovery Fund.
Prominent Cello Solo in the Theme to the Octopath Traveler prequel, Tairiku no Hasha – Game Released Today
Online Performances
Below are upcoming, online events. Be sure to click on the original source link for exact details of times, time zones, and ticket prices.
September
Steven Sharp Nelson of The Piano Guys is going to give a TEDx presentation. Purchase a ticket to watch him live (online).
TEDx Salt Lake City
Steven Sharp Nelson is an award-winning, Billboard chart-topping, YouTube rock star . . . in a cellist sort of way.
Thanks to TPG, Steve is the only cellist in history to play atop the Great Wall of China and the Chichen Itza ruins in Mexico, in front of The Christ Redeemer Statue in Rio, the Petra sandstone City in Jordan, the Iguazu Falls in Brazil and Argentina, the Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland and on the Death Star!
But despite all this, with Steve, what you see is what you get.
Click here to go to the original source www.ted.com
19 September and 26 September 2020, 12 PM EDT
cellochat: know the score: inside the George Walker cello sonata
Featuring Astrid Schween, Emmanuel Feldman, Owen Young and Seth Parker Woods
Join in the conversation as our excellent panel of cellists come together to discuss their personal journeys learning and performing this incredible masterpiece of the American cello repertoire.
Click here to view the original web page at www.cellobello.org
19 September 8 PM
Tomeka Reid
Don’t miss this online performance by the youngest artist ever appointed to the Darius Milhaud Chair in Music Composition at Mills College. She said:
“What does it mean to be doing these online performances? We have people who are essential, health care workers and people who pick up trash. Artists are also essential workers who deal with healing from the fallout of what’s happening.”
Click here to view the original web page at datebook.sfchronicle.com
19 September 7:30 PM MST
The Helena Symphony conducted by Allan R. Scott and Romanian Cellist Ovidiu Marinescu
Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33
Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
Click here to view the original web page at www.helenasymphony.org
20 September 2020, 3 PM ET
An Die Musik Live presents cellist Amit Peled
This live-streamed recital features Bach’s Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major and Suite No. 5 in c minor.
Tickets: $7
Link: http://bit.ly/PeledSept20
Peled is on the faculty of Baltimore’s Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where he has taught a cello studio since 2003 and was one of the youngest professors ever hired by a major conservatory. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Peled has expanded his teaching offerings to include a successful Online Cello Academy, including an open call for eight cellists to participate in an intensive eight-day “hard-core cello workout” and the The First Hour Online Journey, a seven-week course conducted over Zoom. The academy uses Peled’s pedagogy book The First Hour, his unique cello emoji language, scale system, and method of how to wisely practice your first hour of the day. Learn more: www.amitpeled.com/first-hour-online-journey
Don’t miss this wonderful recital! Please see the original article to learn more about Professor Peled.
Click here to view the original web page at www.broadwayworld.com
25 September at 9 AM – 30 September 9 PM
(Pre-recorded streaming presentation)
Stick & Bow: Krystina Marcoux, Marimba and Juan Sebastian Delgado, Cello
Registration required
General Admission: pay any amount
In celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, the energetic duo uniting Canadian marimba player Krystina Marcoux and Argentinian cellist Juan Sebastian Delgado play music from Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, and Puerto Rico/Spain.
Click here to view the original web page at www.baruch.cuny.edu
30 September 5 PM to 6:30 PM, Boulder Colorado
Virtual Event of Note: Cellist Zuill Bailey
Spend an evening engaging in conversation and captivating performance.
Tickets $30-$50
Click here to view the original web page at calendar.colorado.edu
