Featured Event: Prize Giveaway
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To celebrate the new year and this month’s interview with The Wong Janice and her meditation and journaling course (see below), we have a prize drawing to give away one of our new notebooks and two stickers at the end of the month.
Click here and scroll down to enter for a chance to win. We will do the drawing on 31 January.
Online Performances
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Below are upcoming, online events. Be sure to click on the source link for exact details of times, time zones, and ticket prices.
28 January 7:30 PM EST
Zoë Keating, Cello
Extraordinary Vermont-based cellist and composer Zoë Keating continues our cello celebration with a contemporary lens. A one-woman orchestra, she uses a cello and a foot-controlled laptop to record layer upon layer of cello, creating intricate, haunting, and compelling music. Keating has a devoted global audience, and her self-released albums have reached No. 1 several times on the iTunes classical chart. She has composed music for ballet, theater, film, and radio and lends her music regularly to film, TV, dance productions, and commercials.
Streaming tickets: $15/5; 48-hour playback available
Click here to purchase tickets.
Click here for more information.
30 January 8 PM EST
Inspired by Bach: Bach in America
An evening of music for cello solo from Bach to American music.
About this event
If you can’t come to MusicTalks in the Park – we’ll bring the concerts to you!
Join MusicTalks virtually for an evening of beautiful music for cello solo. Discover the beauty of Bach’s masterful Suite for Cello Solo No. 4 in E flat major with acclaimed cellist Elad Kabilio. Elad will share the stories behind Bach’s Music and illustrate connections to American music by George Crumb and Philip Glass.
The program will culminate with a special rendition of ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein.
Tickets range from $20-$75.
5, 13 February 7:30 PM MST
Fort Collins Symphony: Solemn, Joyful and Ecstatic: Anthony Elliott, cello
Slip into our mid-winter concert to resonate with Oskar Morawetz’s powerful Memorial to Martin Luther King and the quiet solemnity of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, composed in 1936 as a reflection of the changes occurring in America and Europe. Counterpoints include Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s joyful Serenade for Strings, Igor Strainvsky’s vibrant Symphonies of Wind Instruments, and Joan Tower’s ecstatic Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman.
Livestream tickets may be purchased here. The concert will be rebroadcast on February 13.
7 February 1 PM GMT (available for 30 days following broadcast)
Wigmore Hall – Barnabás Kelemen violin; Nicolas Altstaedt cello
Kodály, Schulhoff and Veress
Information
This concert will be live-streamed on this website in HD. The video will be available on-demand for 30 days after the broadcast date. Watch live here
Donations are accepted and may be made at the link above.
Online Programs and Events
2 February 2022
Gustav Mahler Prize Cello Competition 2022
The organizer
of the competition is the Gustav Mahler Institute Prague (Institut Gustava Mahlera Praha) in cooperation with the Gustav Mahler Philharmonic Jihlava (Filharmonie G. Mahlera Jihlava).The mission and goal of the competitionis to deepen the interest and motivation of talented young violoncellists to interpret mutual understanding, interpretative confrontation, inspiration, and love for music. The personality of the genius conductor and musical composer Gustav Mahler, who lived in Jihlava for the first 15 years of his life and inspired and enriched so much, reminds him of his noble ideas about the mission of music and is a permanent inspiration source and model for young musicians from all over the world.
5 February 10:20AM – 12 PM EST
GFW Workshop – Viola/Cello The’C’String club with Emma Tomlinson
Tunes for Violas and Cellos – Learn how to adapt tunes to fit your instrument, how to accompany, as well as tips on finding tunes that work well for instruments with a C string.
11 February 9:30 AM EST
Online Workshop in chopping techniques and chording with Eric Wright
An Online workshop looking at chopping and innovative accompaniment styles in roots music with Eric Wright (The Fretless).
About this event
A workshop in accompaniment techniques on the percussive bow effect “The Chop” and other chordal accompaniment tools mainly used in the roots, trad, and folk worlds led by cellist extraordinaire Eric Wright. Inspired by his love for American Old Time and Irish music, Eric sets out to incorporate cello into new and traditional music in ways that haven’t been done before.
All ages, own cello or bowed instrument required.
12 February, 9 April, 25 June, 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 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.
13 February 10-11:30 AM EST
Spike Cello Fest – Saskia Rao-de Haas workshop: Indian Music for Strings
Spike Cello Fest presents an interactive workshop on Indian music for stringed instruments with world-renowned cellist Saskia Rao-de Haas.
About this event
An Introduction to Indian Music for String Instruments
Suitable for all intermediate level string players
Saskia Rao-de Haas is a world-renowned virtuoso cellist, composer, and educationalist from the Netherlands. She was trained as a Western cellist from a young age, but changed direction when she came in touch with Indian music in 1993. She is known as a master performer of Indian classical music and is hailed as the creator of a new instrument: the Indian cello.
Join Saskia for this workshop designed for the Spike festival, where you will discover a few Indian embellishments, glides and intonation, the melodic concept of raga, and the rhythmic concept of Tala.
Registration is €25.
13 February 5-9 PM EST
Online Workshop: The Cello Motorway with Tara-Lee Byrne
Introducing The Cello Motorway. A creative interactive workshop for teachers and students to the holy trinity of sound production, bow speed, placement, and physical demands of each string so you can consistently find your sweet spot across all dynamics, tempi, and genres.
The Cello Motorway workshop is a pastiche of original and adapted teaching approaches, games, visualizations, physical and musical exercises to explore, establish, listen and understand how to manipulate the sound along every inch of the bow.
It’s Blue Peter for the cello minus the pipe cleaners. Unleash your creativity with your cello, a bow, an inquisitive mind, an orange, a matchbox, a bowl of strawberries, a bucket of water, a cereal box, and some sellotape.
This workshop primarily focuses on cello teaching but can be adapted for violin, viola, and double bass. The Cello Motorway methods are easily accessible and can be taught to students of all ages and abilities, from complete beginners to degree music students learning how to teach and teachers looking to further resource their teaching methodologies. All ages, abilities, teachers, students, and parents are most welcome to attend. Props are essential!
19 February 14:00-16:00 GMT
Opening the Practice Toolbox
BYOP – Bring your own piece (of music) and receive tailored advice on the most effective practice OR just listen for a fiver.
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.
Registration ranges from £5.98 – £16.76.
5 March, 21 May, 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 afterward, 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
Click here to register and get more information.
9 May – 4 June
Queen Elisabeth Competition (Cello)
Five years after the huge success of the very first Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition, we will hold a new session for cellists. The second cello competition will take place from 9 May to 4 June 2022. This session was initially planned for May 2021, but was postponed for a year due to the postponement of the piano competition.
Cellists interested in participating, can now consult the requested repertoire, the entry conditions and read more information about the competition rounds in the rules of the 2022 cello session.
Online application: opens in November 2021
Application deadline: Wednesday 8 December 2021 12:00 (noon) GMT
Age limit: In order not to disadvantage the young musicians preparing for this second edition, the age limit for candidates is raised by one year. Hence, candidates are aged at least 18 and have not yet reached the age of 31 (instead of 30) on 31 December 2021 (i.e. they must be born after 31 December 1990 and before 1 January 2004).The applications will be done entirely online, through the ‘APPLY’ section of our website.
If you have questions after having read the rules, please do not hesitate to send us an e-mail at application[a]queenelisabethcompetition. be.
27-28 May 2022 (1 February 2022 application deadline)
2022 Washington International Competition for Strings
We hope you will join the FMMC Foundation for the 2022 Washington International Competition for Violin, Viola, and Cello! In its 69th year, the WIC provides renowned jurors offering individual advice and feedback to all semifinalists. See below for important deadlines, details, and more.
To apply, visit app.getacceptd.com/wic.
Dates and Information
- Application Open: September 15, 2021
- Application Deadline: February 1, 2022
- Semifinalists Notified: March 1, 2022
Semifinals take place in-person at George Washington University in Washington, DC, on both Friday, May 27, and Saturday, May 28, 2022, from 9 AM to 5 PM.
Finals take place in the Terrace Theater of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on May 29, 2022, at 2 PM.
For more details and prize information, visit the FMMC website.
Ongoing
Trad Cello – Tunes and Techniques with Natalie Haas
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!
ArtistWorks
Enter a drawing for a year of free lessons via video exchange with cellist Mike Block. Click here to enter.
Your Turn
Let us know about your favorite online events and concerts in the comments below. Have an event or concert you’d like listed? Please get in touch.
