Become a Cello Museum Founder!
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- $5 – Pau Casals Coloring Page
- $25 – Professionally digitally restored photograph of Pau Casals ready to print.
- $100 – Name on Founders Cello. This is the first level where you are considered a Cello Museum Founder.
- $250 – Founders T-Shirt or Mug + Name on Founders Cello
- $500 – Phone Case (iPhone or Samsung) or Athletic Shorts (or Swim Trunks) + Name on Founders Cello
- $1,000 – Packable Jacket or Concert Lawn Blanket + Name on Founders Cello
- $2,500 – A 90-minute Zoom Lecture/Recital by Erica Lessie and Brenda Neece + Your Choice of Previous Perks + Name on Founders Cello
- $10,000 – A 20″ x 24” Mixed Media Portrait (like the one of Jeremy Montagu) + Your Choice of Previous Museum Shop Perks + Name on Founders Cello
The Cello Guild Courses
Starting Today!
Fret Not, Dear Cellist: Classes specifically for adult students
This July and August, we begin with four courses designed especially for adult cello students in a series taught by our very own Erica Lessie (of Postcards from Erica) called “Fret Not, Dear Cellist.” These courses cover cello positions and offer options for face-to-face online learning, anonymous watch-only participants, and, particularly for our friends spread around the world in different time zones, an opportunity for asynchronous learning.
Sign up here.
Online Programs and Events
11 July at 6 PM BST
The Flexible Text
It is now well-established in the historical performance community that music written before 1800 was meant to be treated flexibly in performance, with plenty of scope for improvisation, as well as more structured but unnotated traditions. 19th-century musicians, meanwhile, are in the odd position of being credited with (or blamed for) the concept of work fidelity that privileges the written notation over both individual creativity and oral tradition, and simultaneously condemned for producing “bad editions” that violate this very concept.
The Schumann Cello Concerto, op. 129, written at the exact midpoint of the century, provides a case study of this gradual shift in both thinking and practice, revealing a reverent yet surprisingly flexible treatment of musical text. A handwritten copy of Schumann’s score belonging to Ludwig Ebert (1834-1908), who gave the concerto’s premiere in 1860, shows dramatic changes to the cello part, the orchestration, and arguably even the structure of the piece. This presentation examines some of the patterns that knit together Ebert’s version with other substantially altered versions from the private collections of later cellists, as well as the more modestly altered versions that were published as performing editions when the initial copyright expired in the 1880s. A better understanding of these patterns might then win some additional creative space for those who wish to engage with this beloved centrepiece of the cello repertoire.
Register for this free event at this link.
16 July at 2 PM BST
Opening the Practice Toolbox with Gisela Meyer
About this event
- Do you feel you are spending a lot of time practicing with little result?
- Are you stuck learning a particular piece or passage?
- Can you “sort of “play – or sing – your repertoire, you feel that there is more to be discovered and want to know what to do next?
- Don’t wait until you are frustrated and ready to start a bonfire with your music –join this 2-hour online workshop instead!
- Suitable for all musicians who work from sheet music.
- Saturday, once monthly, 11.00-13.00* Online platform: Zoom
- Schedule:
- Introduction and presentation of general methods – the three stages of practice 10-15 mins
- Individual sessions masterclass style (active participants) 15 – 20 mins each
- Q&A 15 mins
Prices: Active participant** £15 Passive participant £ 5*A minimum of three active participants is necessary to run the workshop. If no more than three sign up, the workshop will only run for approximately 1.5 hours.**Active participants: Please be prepared to perform a piece or part of a piece, ca 2 mins in length (or shorter), and send me a scan of the sheet music – with bar numbers marked in – prior to the workshop, so I can share it with the group.
1-5 August
2022 Iconnect PRogram
Virtual Program:
August 1st–5th, 2022
Minimum Level: Intermediate (Breval Sonata in C Major, Op. 40 or equivalent).
There is no maximum level, and advanced students are welcome.
Platform: Zoom
Tuition: $150
The virtual iConnect experience will include daily private lessons with ICI staff instructors, group classes, and a masterclass with a guest clinician. Additionally, students will have complimentary access to livestream broadcasts of ICI masterclasses and recitals presented by world-class cellists, and opportunities for online social interaction and mentorship with older ICI students.
Click here for more information and to apply.
1-7 August 2022
WALTHAM FOREST CELLO FEST 2022
The 4th WALTHAM FOREST CELLO FEST 2022 in London invites you to the CELLO ACADEMY – Online Summer Cello Master Classes via Zoom / Skype.
Individual Online Cello Lessons will take place daily from Monday 1st August till Sunday 7th August 2022 @ cca 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (cca 55 minutes slots), online via Zoom or Skype.
FRANTIŠEK BRIKCIUS – CELLO, CHAMBER MUSIC
ANNA BRIKCIUSOVÁ – CELLO
Book your One-to-One Cello OnLine Summer Course now (limited number of accepted students). It includes FINAL online performance meeting.
All ages (4-99), levels (Initial Grade, Grades 1-8) and abilities (beginner, student, advanced) are welcome!
For more details follow #WFCF22 @WalhamForestCelloFest, book your course https://WalthamForestCelloFest.eventbrite.com and visit https://www.Brikcius.com/WalthamForestCelloFest/
17 September, 10 December
Online Timeline Series – Cellist Catherine Black
We all want to be as rounded a musician as possible and that’s a pretty big ask. We all have our preferences, and the groups & orchestras we play in, take us down certain paths which enrich and educate us, but sometimes we find a hole in our knowledge!
The Online Time Line Series has really found a place in your lives. Join us to learn more about a remarkable piece of music, its composer, an era, its style that may otherwise have passed you by. Musical architecture, polyphony, phrasing, the place of music in society are all a part of this quest for a better understanding and roundedness.
We will play, discuss & explore from your – the player’s point of view – a particular piece of music from the wide library of Unsung Heroes Cello Ensemble scores. These now range from Josquin and John Taverner (1490–1545), through to Tchaikovsky & Elgar and far into the twentieth century.
Though there are some restrictions online, we can all play using the mute button, though not as a group. This is an exciting opportunity for players to have the chance to play as many parts as they wish as we play together.
You may want to bring a notebook too and I do send out further notes to help you continue the development after the class. I see this as a massive opportunity for us to do detailed work that really moves you on, because we have these apparent restrictions.
Just a thought: you may think a particular composer, (say Josquin for instance) isn’t for you. Don’t rule things out too easily as all these people, whose music I want to share with you, have so much light to shine for us. As cellists, there is so much music we miss because we have so much already written for us. This is an opportunity that I personally have loved developing.
Your score is sent to you on booking your place and there are 15 places per class so we keep the lesson small, detailed and personal.
Do look at all the parts if you can, so you get under the skin of the music.
Venue: Zoom
Fee: £25 per class
Click here to register and get more information.
22 October, 3 December 2022 | 6:00 PM–8:15 PM GMT
All About My Bow – Cellist Catherine Black
Our bow is our voice. We want it to breathe, speak, dance, sing and emote. This is an infinite subject but we do need to start somewhere! I feel we learn best with clear explanation, demonstration, focus and experimentation.
We will explore in varied ways, how our bow use can become increasingly natural to us – to become truly, an extension of your arm and hand. In going slowly and in detail, you will more truly find your own voice and feel able to express yourself more fully and authentically as a cellist & musician.
This series will build your understanding in stages. Some classes may be repeated too.
The instrument we play is large and physical and we need to know how to use energy well and understand movement because sound follows the movement.
I will send you materials for the class ahead of the day and then afterwards I will send documents that help you consolidate and develop our work. The groups will be small enough that we will be able to work individually too to check things are understood.
Venue: Zoom (waiting room opens at 5.45 PM for tuning)
Fee: £30 per class
Ongoing
Trad Cello – Tunes and Techniques with Natalie Haas
Let Natalie Haas teach you some tricks of the trade as well as some great melodies!
Natalie is one of the most sought after cellists playing traditional music today. She and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser have toured as a duo for twenty years, wowing audiences at festivals and concerts worldwide with their unique sound.
In this series she will teach some bowing techniques when accompanying melody players before moving on to chords and arranging, finishing with some melodies that sit well on the cello.
Although this series is aimed at the cellist, many of the skills and techniques will sit as comfortably on any string instrument.
Click here to learn about membership options.
Win a Year of Free Lessons!
Enter a drawing for a year of free lessons via video exchange with cellist Mike Block. Click here to enter.
Click here for tickets and more information.
Previous Events Still Available
Recording Available Following 16 May
Live In-Studio Performance with cellist Brinton Avril Smith from the Sarasota Music Festival
Listen to Classical WSMR as host Russell Gant welcomed the principal cellist from the Houston Symphony; Brinton Avril Smith to our Sarasota Performance and Broadcast Studio. Brinton played Bach for solo cello, and talked about this year’s exciting Sarasota Music Festival. Originally broadcast June 16th, 2022 at 11:00 AM on Florida’s Classical Music Station, WSMR 89.1 & 103.9.
Recording of Dr. Yuriy Leonovich’s UNCG Speaker Series Presentation
Deciphering the Mysteries of UNCG’s Cello Score Collection
Yuriy Leonovich, expert editor, arranger, and cellist, presented a live talk entitled, “Deciphering the Mysteries of UNCG’s Cello Score Collection,” on Zoom at noon on Friday, 17 June.
Your Turn
In the comments below, let us know about your favorite online events and concerts. Have an event or concert you’d like listed? Please get in touch.
