Cello moments (Jul 1, 2020)
2019–2020 season finale:
Voices heard and celebrated
For inspiration and hope for a brighter future, join us for voices heard and celebrated from classrooms to concert halls to recording studios. Let's watch Ifetayo Ali-Landing at age 16 perform Saint-Saëns' "The Swan" with Martial Besombes at Academia Cesar Chavez Charter School in St. Paul, MN during her residency as a Young Artist on Performance Today, Astrid Schween (member of the Juilliard String Quartet) play Haydn's String Quartet Op. 77 No. 2 (3rd movement) at Yamaha Hall in Tokyo, and the Kanneh-Mason Trio (siblings Braimah, Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason) perform an arrangement of Coleridge-Taylor's 1905 version of the African-American spiritual "Deep River".
Photo: Coleridge-Taylor Society, Washington, D.C, 1900, with the composer as director.
Cello moments (Jun 1, 2020)
Tribute to Krzysztof Penderecki
In memory of Penderecki who passed away on Mar 29 after a long illness, join us for three performances of his music. First, we'll start with his "Divertimento per violoncello solo" performed by Claudio Bohórquez (winner of our 8th Listeners' Choice Award) at a virtual "IDAGIO Live" concert last month on May 2, followed by his "Agnus Dei" played by the Polish Cello Quartet and friends (cellists Mats Lidström, Jakob Kullberg, Alexander Gebert and Rafał Kwiatkowski), and finally his "Concerto doppio" performed by violinist Haik Kazazyan and cellist Astrig Siranossian with the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia (since 2018 the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra) conducted by Sergey Smbatyan.
Cello moments (May 5, 2020)
Gabriel Fauré @ 175
The 175th anniversary of the birth of Gabriel Fauré is coming up on May 12 so join us for a special feature as we shine the spotlight on his music! First, from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, Amit Peled (nominee of our 1st Listeners' Choice Award) with pianist Noreen Polera perform "Élégie", "Sicilienne", and "Papillon". Next, Sol Gabetta plays "Après un rêve" with pianist Bruno Fontaine for the morning program of France Musique. And finally, Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk perform Fauré's Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor at the 92nd Street Y in New York.
Photo: Gabriel Fauré, taken by Paul Nadar in 1905.
Cello moments (Apr 8, 2020)
From Maundy Thursday to Seven Last Words
Easter is only a few days away so join us for three performances in Denmark, UK and France for music for the holiday. First, we'll start at a church in Copenhagen with the 2017 world premiere of Geoffrey Gordon's "Crucifixus" featuring cellist Toke Møldrup and the Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir. Next, we'll head to Manchester for the "Sequentia Serpentigena" cello sonata—which composer Peter Maxwell Davies took as a basis for the six-movement work from the Gregorian chant proper to Maundy Thursday—performed by cellist Jennifer Langridge and pianist Benjamin Powell. And finally to Wissembourg, we'll watch Haydn's "Seven Last Words of Christ" played by the Zemlinsky Quartet.
Image: "Easter Procession, St. Mark's" by Maurice Prendergast, 1898.
Cello moments (Mar 5, 2020)
World Theatre Day
In celebration of World Theatre Day on Mar 27, let's watch the premiere of "The Master and Margarita" at the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam starring cellists Maya Fridman and Kian Soltani as young Margarita and the devil-role of the master; next to San Francisco for a fully staged production of Schoenberg's "Pierrot lunaire" performed from memory and in costumes by Nonsemble 6; and finally in New York for the world premiere of "ODYSSEUS" composed and directed by Johnny Reinhard in the guise of Homer at the American Festival of Microtonal Music starring cellist Dave Eggar as Odysseus and an ensemble of 55 artists as his Greek compatriots and all they have encountered during their fabled journey home to Ithaca.
Cello moments (Feb 5, 2020)
Music couples
Valentine's Day is coming next Friday so join us for a special feature as we shine the spotlight on three music couples! Leading off our celebration Maja Bogdanovic (nominee of our 7th Listeners' Choice Award) with violinist Daniel Rowland perform Vasks' "Castillo Interior" live on NTR's Podium Witteman, next the newly engaged couple Julian Schwarz and Marika Bournaki—congratulations are in order!—play Poulenc's cello sonata (3rd movement: Ballabile) at Classical King FM in Seattle, and finally the husband and wife duo Sébastien Hurtaud and Paméla Hurtado perform Glazunov's "Chant du Ménestrel" live at CRSC à Paris.
Image: "Hausmusik" by Carl Zewy (1855–1929)
Cello moments (Jan 2, 2020)
Winter escape
To escape from wintry January, join us for a musical journey to Latin America and Australia! First stop on our itinerary is "Díptico Latinoamericano" by Chilean composer Javier Contreras in a 2017 performance by Alexander Ramm (winner of our 7th Listeners' Choice Award) with guitarist José Antonio Escobar; next we head to Brazil for Marlos Nobre's "Cantoria" for solo cello in a 2018 concert of Antonio Meneses; and finally closing our trip is Australian composer Carl Vine's "The Village" played by the Sitkovetsky Trio in 2018.
Photo: Recife, the "Venice of Brazil"
Cello moments (Nov 29, 2019)
Caroling along
'Tis the holiday season, come join us caroling along with the stars! Leading off the festivities Narek Hakhnazaryan—quoting the tune of the Christmas carol "Josef, lieber Josef mein"—performs Brahms' "Geistliches Wiegenlied" with mezzo‐soprano Sophie Rennert and pianist Julius Drake; next Sheku Kanneh‐Mason teams up with his pianist sister Isata Kanneh‐Mason for a set of variations on Holst's hymn tune "In the Bleak Midwinter"; and finally Matt Haimovitz and his cello ensemble "Uccello" perform a special rendition of "All Through the Night"—a popular Welsh song which many consider a Christmas carol—with soprano Lisa Delan, mezzo‐sopranos Frederica von Stade and Zheng Cao alongside the Children's Choir of St. Martin de Porres School.
Image: "The Carol Singers" by William M. Spittle, c. 1890
Cello moments (Oct 31, 2019)
As seen on TV
World Television Day is Nov 21 so let's celebrate and watch three excerpts of TV programs in U.S., Portugal and the Netherlands! First, we'll start with the CBS broadcast of a Young People's Concert in 1968 with Leonard Bernstein introducing 14‐year‐old Lawrence Foster for his performance of Saint‐Saëns' Cello Concerto No. 1 with conductor Alois Springer and the New York Philharmonic; next is Bruno Borralhinho featured on RTP3's "360º" news program in 2016 playing Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 (Prelude) and interviewed by Ana Lourenço for the release of his Naxos CD "Portuguese Music for Cello and Orchestra" which later was nominated and voted by fans, supporters, cellists and music lovers from 65 countries to win our 5th Listeners' Choice Award; and finally as seen on NPO2's "Podium Witteman" show in 2017 is father and daughter team Mischa and Lily Maisky performing a special rendition of Debussy's "Minstrels".
Photo by Bert Bial (Barbara Haws of the New York Philharmonic Archives / CC BY 2.5 / Wikimedia Commons)
Cello moments (Oct 1, 2019)
In folk style
From beer tents to game booths to amusement rides, fun times in Munich continue through Oct 6 so join us to celebrate Oktoberfest with an all‐star cast for music in folk style! Leading off the festivities Sol Gabetta with pianist Bertrand Chamayou perform Schumann's "Fünf Stücke im Volkston" (Nr. 1 "Mit Humor"), next Nicolas Altstaedt with violinist Pekka Kuusisto play Jörg Widmann's "Valse bavaroise" (from his 24 Duos), and finally Yo‐Yo Ma with his longtime collaborator Kathryn Stott perform a rendition of Brahms' "Wiegenlied".
Cello moments (Sep 3, 2019)
Inspired by literature
International Literacy Day is coming up on Sep 8 so join us for three chamber music groups inspired by literature! Let's watch our 7th Listeners' Choice Award nominee Trio Karénine—inspired by Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina"—perform Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Orchestre des Jeunes d'Île‐de‐France conducted by David Molard, followed by the Emerson Quartet—named after American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson—with its former cellist David Finckel performing Schubert's string quintet (the "cello quintet"), and finally the contemporary music ensemble Eighth Blackbird—derived from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens' poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"—playing a set list of short works by Bryce Dessner, Robert Honstein, and David Lang at NPR's Tiny Desk concert.
