Online Performances

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Below are upcoming online events. Be sure to click on the source link for exact details, time zones, and ticket prices.

23 July 7:30 PM EDT

Romantic Inspirations

Adrian Fung

Composers in the Romantic era were often inspired by the works of Ludwig van Beethoven. Some even felt like he was too tough an act to follow: Brahms began writing string sextets in part because he felt too intimidated to write more quartets after Beethoven! These pieces all feature their own tip-of-the-hat to the great Ludwig Van. 

Mayumi Seiler, violin

Jonathan Crow, violin

Juan-Miguel Hernandez, viola 

Rémi Pelletier, viola

Rachel Mercer, cello

Adrian Fung, cello

Philip Chiu, piano

Asitha Tennekoon, tenor

Neil Deland, horn

Michael McMahon, piano

Louise Farrenc – Souvenir des Huguenots, Op. 19

Richard Wagner – Albumblatt for cello and piano, WWV 94 “Romance” (arr. David Popper)

Franz Schubert – Auf dem Strom, D 943

Johannes Brahms – String Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36

The link to the video will be posted here at 10 AM EDT on the concert day.

23 July 9 PM EDT

From Adams To Zappa: Music of Today

The Madison New Music Ensemble presents a virtual video concert featuring an exciting variety of compositions that exemplifies the imagination and brilliance of today’s contemporary music. From mixed instrumental quartets to solo piano, and to the full seven-piece ensemble, the MNME will play works by the iconoclastic musician, Frank Zappa, (Peaches en Regalia), the most popular American composer John Adams (China Gates), and up-and-coming composer Kirstin Volness (little tiny stone, full of blue fire). Joseph Koykkar, founder and artistic director of the MNME, will be represented by his driving, rhythmic composition For Mallets and Strings.

New music cellist, Craig Hultgren, whose national reputation as an exponent of new works written for both acoustic and electric cello, will be featured performing two dynamic compositions for electric cello and electronics including Lacrimosa MMXVIII by Joseph Koykkar and Snakeskin (Verso) by Holland Hopson.

Introductory comments on each of the works by members of the ensemble will be interspersed during the program.

Watch on YouTube.

24 July 8 PM EDT

EXTENSITY Concert Series – Thomas Mesa, cello

Thomas Mesa

Live from Uncommonly Studio

Immersive 360° VR and HD Performance

Cellist Thomas Mesa presents an emotional and timely recital celebrating an emergence from despair to joy. The program opens with Andrea Casarrubios’ SEVEN (2020), commissioned by Mesa and written as tribute to the essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by Elizabeth Start’s Echoes in Life (2015), a ruminative exploration of bi-culturality which combines Native American influenced melodic elements with Western musical developments. The program concludes with Lydia Jane Pugh’s jubilant Caroline’s Jig (2015), and Beethoven’s transformative Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69.

This concert is part of Analogs, EXTENSITY’s inaugural season. Analogs explores unexpected intersections between Western classical music and underrepresented, overlooked and new voices.

EXTENSITY,founded by pianists Francesca Khalifa and Chelsea Randall, presents innovative programming by emerging and established artists working across a range of disciplines including music, fine art and multimedia. EXTENSITY also aims to create frameworks for artists and audiences to interact, share ideas, and make new discoveries….

PROGRAM

SEVEN for solo cello
-Andrea Casarrubios

Carolina’s Jig
-Lydia Jane Pugh

Echoes in Life
-Elizabeth Start

Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 6
-L.V. Beethoven

Virtual tickets are pay-what-you-can, ranging from $15 and up. Register by July 19 with some levels to receive a free basic VR headset.

Online Programs and Events

Ends 7 August (check countdown timer on the website for exact timing!)

Global Cello Project #15: Pirates of the Caribbean Medley

Have you been following the wonderful work of Tony Rogers and his Covid Cello Project? The name has changed, but the fun continues.

Cellists interested in participating, be sure to see the new information on the site—non-cellists who are interested click here to see how you can donate or support the project.

Click here to participate and get more information.

Ends 15 August 11:59 PM EDT

Contest: Compose the Memorable Musical Fragment in The Cellist’s Notebook

The winner will receive a signed copy of The Cellist’s Notebook and a Cello Museum mug.

We are pleased to announce a contest to accompany our upcoming Cello Book Club meeting with author Kittie Lambton to discuss her book, The Cellist’s Notebook.

Contest

The contest is to see who can compose the most fitting musical fragment of Leni’s cello and piano piece that Emily discovers in the notebook. Kittie Lambton describes the work as:

“the little melody that triggers memory and is so very important in my book. This need not be a long-winded music composition but just a fragment. Just enough to be timeless and generational.”

How to Enter the Contest

• Create a new, original work.
• The entry may be a fragment or an entire piece to fit the above description and the story in The Cellist’s Notebook.
• Instrumentation: cello and piano.
• Send a PDF score and MP3 recording. The recording can be digital or played on cello and piano.
• Submissions will be accepted from the next book club meeting (18 July 2021) through 11:59 PM, New York time, 15 August 2021.
• Send your PDF and MP3 files to us at curator(at)cellomuseum.org

Prizes

• The winner will receive a signed copy of The Cellist’s Notebook and a Cello Museum mug.
• Two runners-up will each win a Cello Museum cello sticker.
• The Cello Museum and Kittie Lambton will share the winning pieces on their websites, social media, and emails.

Two runners-up will each win a Cello Museum cello sticker.

Judging of Contest Entries

After the contest deadline, three judges, including author Kittie Lambton and two members of The Cello Museum team, will vote to determine the winners. The Cello Museum will then contact the winners to send out prizes.

Please Note

By entering the competition, you give The Cello Museum and Kittie Lambton permission to publicize your piece.

All entries must be received by 11:59 PM (New York time) on 15 August 2021.

5 June – 1 August

Once registered, log in at this link to view the masterclass.

16-20 August and 23-27 August

Midcoast Maine Adult Amateur Cello Workshop

Come develop your playing!
Learn in a supportive friendly atmosphere25 years ago cellist Peter Lewy started the Cello Workshop at The SummerKeys Music Festival dedicated to helping amateur adult cello players improve their skills.  It has expanded enormously and met every year until Covid.  The festival is not going to resume this year so he is going to do two 1 week sessions in the Midcoast region of Maine as he did last year.

The workshop offers five private lessons, use of private practice studio two hours daily, daily group classes, ensemble work, 2 “master class” style instruction classes, and an end-of-week performance opportunity. An accompanist is available.
an intensive practice/study vacation for busy adults in a breathtakingly beautiful setting.

There is no audition and no minimum skill level, the premise is: “Come as you are to enjoy the study”  Absolute beginners to professionals are welcome.
We all learn from each other!

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19-23 January (29 November application deadline)

International Instrument-making Competition (Cello)

Image provided by unsplash.com

Musée de la musique/Philharmonie de Paris and Talents & Violon’celles

From 19 to 23 January 2022 at the Philharmonie de Paris

In January 2022, in partnership with the association Talents & Violon’celles, the Musée de la musique/ Philharmonie de Paris is organising an international instrument-making competition exclusively dedicated to the cello. Programmed at the same time as the 10th String Quartet Biennial, this event follows in the tradition of the many international instrument-making competitions that Paris has hosted.

Promoting contemporary excellence and developing future talents

Open to professionals as well as to students of instrument-making schools, the Talent Makers Instrument-making Competition is composed of two different parts organised in parallel:

Jury and Prizes

A jury composed of eminent musicians and personalities from the world of instrument-making will judge the craftsmanship of the participants as expressed by the instruments themselves and how they sound. Six prizes will be awarded to professionals, and three prizes will be awarded to students with one instrument joining the collection of facsimiles at the Musée de la musique. The finals and semi-finals will be organised as a real rendezvous with the public of the 10th String Quartet Biennial.

Opening date for submissions: now opened
Closing date for submissions: Monday 29 November 2021

Competition rules and Submission of applications avalable soon
Contact: lutheriecompetition@philharmoniedeparis.fr

For more information, click here.

Ongoing

Face-to-face and videoconference classes: Approach to Latin American popular music with the cello

Harmony, Cipher, Chords, Arpeggios, Scales and Fingering Patterns
Rhythmic Harmonic Base
Improvisation, Arrangements

(+54 9 11) 5150-3805
fino_rj@yahoo.com

Cello Yoga with Mea the Creative Cellist

How to Play Cello with more Focus, Flexibility and Freedom 

with less tension

“without increasing your practice time”

EXCLUSIVE TRAINING WITH MEA THE CREATIVE CELLIST

✅  How to achieve laser focus so that you can practice for longer with less tension and pain no matter what your level of cello expertise

✅  How to increase endurance and flexibility with research based methods even if you have physical limitations, injuries or find it hard to concentrate

✅ How to design  creative practice sessions so that you can have more fun and time for the rest of your life

Click here for more information.

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Journaling With Cello For Grounding & Positivity

The Wong Janice

Welcome to this 8-day course on Insight Timer, which focuses on journaling with cello for grounding and positivity. Over the course of seven days, The Wong Janice will take you through seven different themes, each with its own unique writing prompts and with the beautiful sounds of deep cello music, designed to inspire you to write freely with full awareness from your heart while harnessing the power of journaling for healing.

The themes covered are:
Gratitude
Empowerment
Freedom
Love
Acceptance
Forgiveness
Surrender

By the end of the course, you will have covered seven journaling exercises, and with daily practice, learn to express yourself better and understand who you are at a higher level, bringing more stability in your life, and feeling more grounded and calm from within.

For more information on this and other courses by The Wong Janice, click here.

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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.

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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.

Previous Concerts Still Available

Available through Friday 30 July 2021 (from 7 May 7:30 PM BST)

Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chamber Concert –  Cello Jewels, Aleksei Kiseliov, Cello, and Alasdair Beatson, Piano

Program:

Beethoven Variations in F major on ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ for Cello and Piano
Beethoven Cello Sonata No5
R Strauss Cello Sonata
Dvořák Silent Woods for Cello and Piano

Each player in the RSNO is a star in their own right – and when you get them on their own, they’ve got some great stories to tell! For the RSNO’s Principal Cello Aleksei Kiseliov, that means teaming up with pianist Alasdair Beatson in the ebullient Cello Sonata by the youthful Richard Strauss. Add Beethoven at his most exuberant, plus a moment of sheer magic from the Czech forests, and you’ve got a concert that’s small in scale but huge in personality.

This performance was recorded by BBC Radio 3.

Household ticket: $21. Price excludes VAT (added at the point of purchase).

Click here to purchase tickets and get more information.

Available through 31 October 2021

DWB (Driving While Black)

Driving While Black

Dwb is the premiere filmed version of the opera by the same name Susan Kander and Roberta Gumbel. Presented by UrbanArias, now celebrating its 10th anniversary. UrbanArias is an opera company dedicated to producing short – 90 minutes or less – contemporary operas.

A solo chamber opera, dwb derives much of its power from the voice of soprano Karen Slack, starring as the various mothers. Slack, who has sung with the Metropolitan Opera and Washington National Opera, among other prestigious opera houses, moves easily from lyric to dramatic sounds and offers theatrical skills to boot.

A two-musician ensemble – composed of cellist Rosanna Butterfield and percussionist Eric Plewinski – is conducted by Robert Wood. Known as an innovator in opera, Wood founded UrbanArias in 2009.

Du’Bois A’keen directed and choreographed the film; Camry A’Keen was the creative director. Both have drawn on their extensive operatic, choreographic, and film backgrounds to bring elements of modern dance and music video production.

Tickets are $15 and allow unlimited viewing through October 31.

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.