Here’s your weekly dose of cello news.
Cello News
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Yo-Yo Ma Gives Surprise Concert in Acadia National Park
The biggest story in the cello news was Yo-Yo Ma’s performance in Acadia National Park.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, ME — On 17 June 2021, Yo-Yo Ma played at the Jordan Pond House in Acadia National Park to pay tribute to the indigenous people of the Wabanaki Nations. He was
in Maine to play a sunrise concert Friday [18 June] at Schoodic Point on the occasion of a visit by Deb Haaland, secretary of the interior and the first Native American to be confirmed as a Cabinet secretary.
Honored to have been a guest of the Wabanaki nations and @AcadiaNPS. https://t.co/FHXFm6tzva
— Yo-Yo Ma (@YoYo_Ma) June 18, 2021
Read more in the description of the YouTube video.
New York’s Salon de Virtuosi Announces 2021 Career Grant Recipients
NEW YORK, NY — Cellist Sterling Elliott named one of seven recipients of Charlotte White’s Salon de Virtuosi Career Grants. Congratulations to Sterling Elliott and all of the artists. Read the full list here.
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Interview with Cellist and Composer Peter Gregson
About Patina, he said:
As a cellist, I’ve always wanted to bring the listener closer to the sound we create —the typical sound of a cello recording is from the perspective of the audience in a concert hall, but that’s not what we are creating “under the ear”, and that’s the sound I want to share — the scratches of the bow over the string, fingers on the fingerboard, the raw immediacy of that is really exciting to me.
Click here to read the interview by Anya Wassenberg on #LUDWIGVAN, Toronto.
Who is Abel Selaocoe?
is a multi-talented, award-winning musician and innovator whose music defies pigeon-holing. As comfortable performing a classical concerto as he is improvised jazz, Selaocoe is a thrilling young artist who continues to surprise and delight audiences.
We love his cello playing, and we love that he
is passionate about opening up classical music to a wider and more diverse audience. He co-founded the Kabantu ensemble and the Chesaba trio, the latter specialising in music by African composers.
Click here to read the full article.
Cellist Benjamin Gates Performs at Carlyle House, Once a Home to Enslaved People, to Celebrate Juneteenth
Cellist Pavel Staněk Organizes Unique Instrument Repair Scheme in Czech Republic Prison
Click here to read the full story in The Strad.
Sound of Bread Features Cellist as Protagonist in Webcomic Romance
Cello Student Adriana Kamor Stayed Connected to Music by Writing and Arranging Music
Massapequa High School senior Adriana Kamor, who plays the cello in the orchestra, composed three original pieces, including one performed by the entire ensemble. Photo © Massapequa School District.
MASSAPEQUA, NY — When schools closed in March 2020, Massapequa High School orchestra cellist Adriana Kamor turned to composing and arranging music to stay connected with music.
Recently, she heard her original composition, “Chaos and Calamity,” for orchestra played by her fellow students. She said:
“I was really excited to have a full orchestra. It felt surreal. I was really ecstatic that everyone was into the piece and put in their full effort.”
R.I.P. Cellist Leo Crandall (5 August 1953 – 29 May 2021)
Crandall
attended the Chicago Conservatory College of Music, and earned his BA in English from the University of Illinois, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
In the 1980s, he worked for the Phoenix Symphony and then moved to Syracuse, where he worked in Arts Administration and continued to perform. In his obituary, he is described as having been
a natural connector of people. . . He was a sharer of knowledge as well as people. He relished recovering arcane cultural touchpoints and applying them in thoughtful new ways with his own unique perspective.
We offer our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. R.I.P. Leo Crandall.
Albums
Leanne Zacharias – Music for Spaces
Release date: 25 June 2021
Cellist Leanne Zacharias had quite an adventure recording this album. Rather than recording in a studio, she
set up microphones in a straw-bale observatory in Saskatchewan, two historic country churches near Manitou, one made of wood and another of stone, and a log cabin in northwestern Ontario . . .
She said that
“The project has been about finding a unique space that allows for an intimate moment for the listener between the cello itself, getting really close to it, and getting a close encounter with the pieces.”
Click here to read the full story by Alan Small.
Listen to one of the pieces on the album:
Rose Reibl – Do Not Move Stones
Release date: 18 June 2021
This musical view of Iceland
is full of memories of the small towns, the black sand of Reynisfjarg beach, a storm that fell one afternoon and, when the storm had finished, the sun that broke out of the sky and the waves that turned blue and stopped crashing . . . I wanted to evoke what I thought these elements (wind, snow, sky) might sound like in music: I began to explore this in the haunting cello harmonics in the opening of ‘An Ending, Go Back to the Beginning’, edited to take out the sound of bowing and create a sense of space, a siren call across a great distance, the melody that builds and pulls you under crashing waves . . . That feeling of being alone but not afraid, looking out into a dark night full of light found its way into ‘I conversed with you in a dream’, a languid, dream-state meditation of sustained cello notes and deep chords on the piano.
Click here to read the full article in Clash.
The album features cellist Ceridwen McCooey in this track:
Videos
Covid Cello Project 14 – “Danse Bacchanale” by Camille Saint-Saëns
477 cellists from 45 countries! Amazing! Thank you for this, Tony Rogers.
Camille Thomas and Julien Brocal – “Vater Unser” by Arvo Pärt – (Arr: Camille Thomas)
Yo-Yo Ma in Miley Cyrus “Nothing Else Matters” Video
Miley Cyrus has an all-star line-up for her cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” – including Yo-Yo Ma.
William Skeen & Voices of Music – Vivaldi Cello Concerto in d minor RV 407
Cello Paradiso – Kumru Ballad by Fazil Say (Arr: Yusuf Gençay)
Arnaboldi Andrea Renato & Maria Eugenia Maffi Caronno Pertusella”Violoncelle enchante” Concert
WFMT – Jean Hatmaker & Michael Finlay Recital
Brahms and Coleridge-Taylor recorded live from the Chicago Cultural Center.
Jeremy Tai – Game of Thrones Suite for 5 Cellos
Petr Eben – Suita Balladica by Petr Eben
India Gailey – In Manus Tuas by Caroline Shaw
Duet: Cello and Enormous Recorder
Pasadena Conservatory of Music: Andrew Cook & Susan Svrček – Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Pärt
This is one part of an interesting program inspired by Ann Patchett’s novel, Bel Canto. Be sure to read the description on YouTube to find out more.
Columbus State University Schwob School of Music Cello Studio Recital
Performers include The Cello Museum’s intern, cellist Jonathan Simmons.
Your Turn
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