TUTTI CELLI CONTENTS -- volume 9, issue 4

Tim Janof, Editor


Message from the Editor

Membership Letters


ICS Exclusive Interview
** CONVERSATION WITH ALBAN GERHARDT **

Feature Article
** NATIONAL CELLO CONGRESS 2003 **

Conference Report
** NATIONAL CELLO CONGRESS NOTES **

Membership Spotlight
** TOM SISK **

ICS Featured Website
** IRENE SHARP CELLO SEMINAR **


ICS Forum/Cello/Equipment Chat Board

Activities and Announcements

Music Festival Watch

ICS Library

Other Internet Music Resources


MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR


I've hit a bit of a milestone with my interview of Alban Gerhardt. He's my 50th! And it has taken me almost nine years to do it. If somebody had told me ten years ago that I would be given the time of day by cellists such as Janos Starker, Lynn Harrell, and Anner Bylsma, I would have laughed them out of the room! The good news is that I have never lost the awe I have for these immensely talented people, or a love of the cello and the music written for it. I'm still a huge cellist-groupie, and I still become somewhat giddy around great cellists, well, most of them.

I'm often asked about my most memorable moments in my interviews. Having done fifty of these, I certainly have lots of of them, but they're not in the published versions you may have read because they're those wonderfully human moments that are hard to put into words. I'll never forget Lynn Harrell spontaneously singing an excerpt from a Wagner opera, using a thunderous operatic voice; boy, did I feel scarily alone at that moment. Or Starker's irritation when I kept asking him about showing one's reaction to the music, "Look, I'm not an actor, I'm a musician!" Or Stephen Kates' persistent cough, "I'm just nursing a cold...." Or Zara Nelsova's pursed-lipped indignation and sharply dismissive wave when I mentioned another cellist's lack of vibrato in Schelomo. Or Anner Bylsma's out-of-the-blue faxes to me after the interview; the interview really stirred him up. Or Gerhard Mantel's utter delight in my asking him about endless technical minutia. Or Marston Smith's suddenly dreamy, lowered voice as he said, "When I wear my golden armor, it's as if I'm ... Lord of the Cello." Priceless....

Anyway, I've had lots of fun, and I hope you've enjoyed reading them. I don't promise another fifty, but I will try to keep doing more, at least until my white whale (Yo-Yo) is caught.

Tim Janof
Editor


MEMBERSHIP LETTERS


>> I have another cello movie to add to your list. "Electric Dreams" features a cellist quite prominently.

Logan

>> I used to use a piece of corduroy material that was hand sewn into a mat big enough to fit between the player and the cello. This would protect the cello from accidental scratches from buttons, pins, broaches, combs, pens, and glasses in one's top pocket. Shar has one, but it is really tacky. Can you recommend something similar? The Shar version is huge, unbeautiful, exceedingly large, a terrible color, and thoughtlessly square (and the cello has such an interesting and seductive shape), and you have to attach it with your own string.... What is good about the Shar version is that there is a good basic pocket.

Steve H

Todd French replies: It's a good idea to get a 'cello bib,' but in my case, I was so frustrated by what was available (it's so limited) that I made my own. I used double-sided sewing tape because I can barely sew a button on, much less a blanket, and I used a black, satiny-type material with felt as a durable inner padding. I knotted a roped-type string and put the knot inside the blanket. With the other end I sewed a button on and made a loop with the string so that it can be easily removed. I did this five years ago and it's still working great!! And it cost me about $5.00 in materials!

>> Your web site lets foreign luthiers advertise, which is fine, but the likelihood of an American needing their services seems remote. May I humbly suggest that you include a pointer to the Violin Society of America . This would improve the visibiliy of many American makers at a time when the economy is not doing well and they may be facing declining store revenues.

Steve

>> The French Section of the International Institute of Conservation (SFIIC) is glad to present to you the publication of proceedings of the congress devoted to conservation of musical instruments, held in Limoges (France) in June 2000. You'll find on the site a presentation of our book, table of contents, order form, abstracts and pictures from papers (papers in French of English, with abstract in alternating languages). http://www.fnet.fr/sfiic/index.html.

**If you would like to respond to something you have read in 'Tutti Celli', write to editor@cello.org and type "Membership Letter" in subject field. (Letters may be edited.)**


ICS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW


CONVERSATION WITH ALBAN GERHARDT

by Tim Janof

After winning several international competitions early on (Wettbewerbserfolgen 1990 at the ARD, and the Leonard Rose International Competition in 1993), Alban Gerhardt has established himself as one of the world's leading cellists. His career-launching debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra has led to performances as soloist with such orchestras as the NDR Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, and Frankfurt Radio Orchestras, Bamberg Symphony, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Dresden, Hamburg, and London Philharmonic Orchestras, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, National Symphony, Houston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre National de Belgique, St. Petersburger Philharmonikern, Shinsei Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, as well as the chamber orchestras of Lausanne, Amsterdam, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. Among the distinguished conductors with whom he has collaborated are Andrey Boreyko, Semyon Bychkov, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo and Neeme Järvi, Marek Janowski, Carlos Kalmar, Alexander Lazarew, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Fabio Luisi, Sir Neville Mariner, Kurt Masur, Sakari Oramo, Heinrich Schiff, Vassily Sinaisky, Jeffrey Tate, Yan Pascal Tortelier, and Osmo Vänskä.

In 2000/01 he had the honor of playing three times at the London "Prom" with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo. In the following season he gave his debuts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Yakov Kreizberg, the Baltimore Symphony under Sir Neville Mariner, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monaco, Lahti Symphony, Czech, Stuttgart and Halle Philharmonic (at the Große Festpielhaus Salzburg), and at the Festival Pablo Casals with the China Philharmonic under K. Penderecki. He has given recitals at London's Wigmore Hall, Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, the Cheltenham Pump Room, Paris' Theatre de la Ville, Eindhoven's Philips Center, and New York's Frick Collection.

The next two years will introduce Alban's debut performances with the Nederland, Helsinki, and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the Vancouver, Seattle (under G. Schwarz), Utah (with K. Lockhart), Oregon and Detroit, Philharmonia London, Trondheim Symphony und dem Berlin Symphony (with W. Weller), as well as two re-invitations with the Monaco Philharmonic (L. Foster and M. Janowski), his fifth time at the Tonk�nstler Orchestra in the Musikverein Vienna, and a tour with Birmingham Symphony, including his debut at their Symphony Hall.

In collaboration with pianists such as Christoph Eschenbach, Markus Groh, Steven Osborne, Cecile Licad, Lars Vogt and Anne-Marie McDermott, he has been presented at distinguished venues as Lincoln Center 's Alice Tully Hall (for his US debut), the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection, the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Musée d'Orsay, Theatre Champs-Elysée and the Chatelet in Paris, Philharmonic Halls in Berlin and Cologne, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Gerhardt is a frequent guest at major music festivals, such as both Spoleto Festivals (US and Italy), Newport, Vancouver, New Hampshire, Bath, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Schleswig-Holstein, Berliner Festwochen, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Heimbach, Davos, Heidelberg Spring, Prague Autumn, Kuhmo, and others, playing with musicians like Christian Tetzlaff, Lisa Batiashvili, Julia Fischer, Isabelle van Keulen, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Frank Peter Zimmerman, Kyoko Takezawa, Chee-Yun, Tabea Zimmermann, Peter Serkin, Paul Neubauer, Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, and Michael Collins.

For the prestigious BBC Music Magazine, Gerhardt recorded the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic and Neeme Järvi, followed by the Brahms Double with Lisa Batiashvili and the Barber Concerto (for Amati). The concertos by Michael Berkely, Frank Bridge (Orations with the Welsh BBC Symphony and Robert Hickox for Chandos), and Anton Rubinstein (for MDG) will be released in 2003. He has also recorded the Brahms Sonatas for Harmonia Mundi, for which he won the ECHO Classics Price, and a selection of Spanish encores for EMI. Television and radio stations in Europe and the United States have showcased Mr. Gerhardt numerous times.

Born in 1969 into a musical family, Alban Gerhardt started playing piano and cello at the age of eight, excelling in both instruments. His teachers included Markus Nyikos, Boris Pergamenschikov, and Frans Helmerson. After having enjoyed life in New York for 6 years, he moved back to his hometown, Berlin, last year with his wife, Katalina, and son, Janos Antonio.

TJ: Your father is a violinist in the Berlin Philharmonic. Did he practice with you when you were a child?

AG: No, he never did. Once a month or so he would come in the door and yell, "Everything you play is out of tune!" and then he'd slam the door. I used to blame him for my lack of progress, "Why don't you practice with me? I could be better and I could win the youth competition." But my father replied, "One day you'll be happy that I didn't practice with you," and he was right, of course. I eventually realized that my father was teaching me to be independent.

TJ: What was your early cello training like?

AG: I began playing cello with Marion Vetter in Berlin when I was 8-1/2 years old. After her, I studied with one of the principal cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic -- Götz Teutsch -- for about a year, which didn't work out. Then I went to Markus Nyikos, who is the teacher that I have to thank for much of my success.

(Click here for the complete transcript.)


FEATURE ARTICLE


NATIONAL CELLO CONGRESS 2003

by Tim Janof

The National Cello Congress started out a little shaky this year because some key participants didn't show, including Rostropovich and Laszlo Varga, both due to health issues. The congress had been conceived around the idea of celebrating Rostropovich's contributions to the cello, so there were many events planned in which he was to participate. What a nightmare it must have been for Taki and Sally Atsumi, who had started conversations with Rostropovich five years ago about coming to this event.

Not everybody was upset by Rostropovich's absence, however. Some we're happy to finally participate in a congress in which their contributions aren't overshadowed by the mere presence of a cello mega-star. For them, it was nice to be noticed.

For me, the congress suffered from the lack of world class players and world class playing. Think of all the great cellists that could have been there: Janos Starker, Lynn Harrell, Carter Brey, Wendy Warner, Zuill Bailey, David Hardy, and Yo-Yo Ma, to a name a few. There was a distinct lack of "buzz" from the participants, you know, the sudden wide-eyed, slack-jawed hush in conversation as Cellist X walks by, though I felt it when I first saw Ron Leonard (former principal cellist of the LA Philharmonic). In spite of this, the congress had an incredible amount to offer, since some of the United States' most outstanding pedagogues were present.

(Click here for the complete transcript.)


CONFERENCE REPORT


NOTES FROM THE NATIONAL CELLO CONGRESS

by Tim Janof

The following are my notes from the various master classes, lectures, and panel discussions that I attended while at the 2003 National Cello Congress in Tempe, Arizona.

Hans Jorgen-Jensen Master Class
5/16/03

(Click here for the complete transcript.)


MEMBERSHIP SPOTLIGHT


TOM SISK

When Tim asked me to do this, I'm afraid I made a bit of a pest out of myself asking him if he was sure that I was the person he wanted for this -- I thought he might have confused me with someone else, someone with more experience with the cello. He insisted, and I promised to stop being a pain and write something.

I'm 50 years old and live near Chapel Hill, NC, where I work as a private investigator and attend law school at NC Central University School of Law, in their evening program. It's not an easy program to get into, and although I don't know what they were thinking when they admitted me, I'm pleased that I got in. I'm married to (as Zambo would say) the lovely and talented Frau Doktor Schroeder, a Ph.D. in Chemistry who works in the regulatory side of the clinical drug trials biz. We live on 5 acres of woods in the country, with three lovable but relatively insane dogs. I used to be a police detective until my back turned on me and decided that I surely ought to find something else to do with my life. After the better part of a year out of work, I realized that I couldn't physically do the job anymore and began the transition into school and the private investigator business. I have an undergraduate degree in psychology from UNC-CH (though it didn't help -- both the dogs and I are still nuts and Maria's starting to tilt a little bit, herself.)

(Click here for the complete transcript.)


ICS FEATURED WEBSITE


July/August Featured Website

*** Irene Sharp Cello Seminar ***

http://home.pacbell.net/gszent/

This is Irene Sharp's webpage for her cello seminar. Included is a nice article about Margaret Rowell, a repertoire list, scale studies, and shifting exercises.


**Please notify Tim Janof at editor@cello.org of interesting websites that you would like to nominate for this recognition in the future. Websites will be selected based on their content, cello relevance, creativity and presentation style!


ICS FORUM/CELLO/EQUIPMENT CHAT


Thanks to Bobbie Mayer for compiling the following conversations from our chat boards. In addition to our boards, you are welcome to contact our forum hosts directly. For a complete list of ICS Forum Hosts please see http://www.cello.org/The_Society/Staff.html

>> Casals' quote about children

Kezzalina: A friend of mine works in early childhood development and says there is a really beautiful quote made by Casals about children. Does anybody know what he said?

Nicholas Anderson: "We should say to each of them . . . do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all of the world there is no other child exactly like you. In the millions of years that have passed, there has never been another child like you . . . you may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another, who is, like you, a marvel? You must cherish one another. You must work -- we all must work to make this world worthy of its children.

"The love of one's country is a natural thing, but why should love stop at the border? We are all leaves of a tree, and the tree is humanity." -- Pablo Casals

>> The hazards of pursuing a music career

Gary Stucka: To those who are still intent on an orchestra career, what contingency plans might you have on the back burner? Having devoted myself 100% to the cello, I have no alternate plans/skills. I still feel lucky to be in the CSO and I hope that we will weather the current storm. However, rampant incompetent managing, lack of interest and, sometimes, hostility from the 'rich folk', and an entire generation lost to classical music because of funding cuts in education have me quite worried about the future of the entire art.

Zambocello: Like you, my skills are all cello-oriented. But I've always felt that I had choices. Teaching, freelancing, academia, score preparation; even arranging and period instrument playing. When I've forayed into attempts at "real" work, I was always inspired to go practice harder! And that's the bottom line: we have to do what we love and do best. For some people, that means having a "real" job to support their avocations. That would be hard for me. I can't imagine not being a musician full-time. (But I can relate. There were times in my tenure with the Houston Symphony that I felt I was playing in the Symphony only to support my chamber music and recital habit.)

For my students who want to be professional musicians, I make sure they have an idea of the market, but I don't directly discourage them. I believe that the things they learn studying music and the things they learn by completing a college degree program can help them in many various pursuits, if "the cello thing" doesn't work out vocationally. And there is a virtue of being a musician -- one can patch together a very satisfying career from a variety of endeavors.

The list of troubled orchestras is impressively long! I believe it is cyclic. The doom of the orchestra biz has been "imminent" for decades now, ever since more than the top orchestras provided the security and incentive of full-time work for their employees. (I remember when the death of the movie theatre was at hand because of the distribution of movies on videotapes.)

Tim Janof: I suspect that articles that discuss the demise of orchestra after orchestra have little effect on most young people who are thinking of pursuing music as a career. The following are some of the reasons I can come up with as to why this is the case:

  1. Eternal optimism of youth.

    There is a certain optimism, some would say "healthy arrogance," that is part of the experience of being young. It's the same thing that fuels their feelings of invincibility. They feel that they can make it and the geezers just don't know what it means to follow one's passion. Carpe diem, baby!

  2. Lack of real understanding and appreciation for money.

    Until you begin to resent giving a landlord your hard-earned money for rent and want to buy a house for real, or want to start a family, or you begin worrying about where your money is going to come from for retirement, you don't appreciate the value of money. The rent thing often kicks in around the age of 25, the latter two around age 30, or later, in my experience. There's a certain romance associated with the "poor starving artist" that intoxicates young people ... at least those under age 25.

  3. Lottery mentality.

    You can't win if you don't play, right? And there are always a few who do get jobs. "If I just practice hard enough, I'll get one of those jobs."

  4. Lack of listening.

    It's too easy to go into dreamland and enjoy the feelings that one feels Within when playing music instead of hearing how one actually sounds. This self-hypnosis, which is not restricted to just young people, can lead one to believe that one has more talent/potential than one actually does. I've been sent self-published CD's by several people as part of my ICS duties who clearly believe that they are undiscovered cello gods, even though they don't have the technique to get a job in a third-rate orchestra. It's sad and tragic, really.

  5. Teachers who spare their students' feelings.

    Teachers may choose to not discourage their students to go into the profession, even if maybe they should in certain clear cases. One reason may be that the teachers' livelihood often depends on how many students they have, but there are oodles of other perfectly valid reasons not to. In other words, some teachers feed, or at least don't address, a student's musical delusions of grandeur.

  6. The "Siren"

    Music is so wonderful and so beautiful that it's hard to turn one's back on it when it beckons.

Having said this, if my child were to try to go into music professionally, I'm not sure what I would tell him/her. I don't want to crush his/her dreams and be blamed for holding him/her back, for crushing his/her spirit. After all, there is a greater-than-zero chance of success. I'd ask him/her to consider a double degree, but I also happened to believe that one's odds of getting a job in music are greatly increased if one totally commits, becomes totally immersed, and concentrates only on music (i.e. doesn't get the double major).

On the other hand, if I were to encourage my child to pursue his/her dreams, I'd first want to be clear with myself to make sure that I wasn't pushing him/her to go into music in order to live out my own unfulfilled dreams. Parents can really mess up too.

Cellodude77: After seriously considering alternative plans for the past several years, I am beginning to make some decisions that I think will help me to both continue to enjoy music, yet provide stability as well. Isn't it interesting that Marston Smith is the featured artist of the month while we are discussing this? Some of what I am considering is somewhat related to that kind of creativity of finding a niche, and learning to make it work. No, we all may not be able to do Hollywood, or Vegas, but perhaps if we really search our souls we can find ways to use our talents in the service of our art that can also provide us with the ability to make a living. How many of the people complaining about management in orchestras have the courage to go out there and join management themselves in order to help save others in similar circumstances? Maybe some of us, like me, who are struggling to make ends meet should consider finding creative ways of contributing in this way. I am looking for answers in this direction. Who's with me?

Dennisw4: I would say this: after all is said and done, it comes down to desire. At some point in time, each and every one of us has to decide what it is we want from life and why we want it. We must know who we are in order to provide the answers to those questions. If the desire is great, the music will be in our lives, come what may. If the desire is so-so, the music will never truly be in our lives even if we have all the money in the world.

What if one couldn't walk? (violinist, Itzhak Perlman) What if one were nearly blind? (cellist, Paul Katz) What if one were deaf? (percussionist, Evelyn Glennie)

Me? I'm a software development engineer and a cellist. Why? I like to own a big house instead of renting a condo, I like my three cars in the garage, I like owning plenty of land that I can landscape and garden, and I like eating steak whenever I want instead of rice & beans. However, my true passion in life is the cello.

As I go forward with the cello, I'm beginning to see fewer and fewer distinctions between me and the full-time musicians I play with. Outside of the music we make together, we lead different lives. However, we play in the same orchestras, sub for one another, play in the same chamber groups, solo in the same venues, and enjoy a camaraderie generated from a common interest.

When the talk occasionally turns to finances. Most of the full-timers (even the ones w/full season contracts) are concerned about the future, most would like to have a little more materially, and some are scuffling to make ends meet. But, I have yet to meet a single musician running around green with envy or plagued by bitterness. I take that back. I did meet a violinist playing at an outdoor art fair in Laguna Beach who had soured on the world and soured on life because his Juilliard-bred talent just wasn't acknowledged by the world. I walked away from the encounter very saddened. For the most part, musicians are no different than anyone else: we are simply people who make choices in our lives and learn to live with them.

>> Leonard Rose Story

My father sent me the following reminiscence of a lunchtime discussion he had with Leonard Rose about his career (we were fortunate to have Rose as a house guest several times late in his life. I was a bit too young to fully appreciate it.) I thought it was worth sharing:

"One day, over a long brunch at our house, Rose reminisced about his career. (I think you had finished breakfast and gone off.) As I recall, a Philadelphia critic heard him play at some Curtis function and recommended him to Toscanini, who hired him for the last chair in the NBC Orchestra. One day NBC was going to rebroadcast a speech by Mussolini from short-wave. For some reason there was a long delay and they looked around for someone to fill the time by playing music. Rose just happened to be there, and he was asked to play. Toscanini was listening and the next day he picked on the second chair cellist and moved Leonard up to the second chair. When the principal job at Cleveland opened up he went there. (Under Rodzinski, as I recall. He was also there under Szell, but I think that was later. This was before WWII.) He left Cleveland to become Principal of the New York Philharmonic about 1942. He was called up to be drafted, but, just by chance, the doctor examining him was a patron of the New York Philharmonic and recognized him as the new principal cellist. He asked if Rose was really eager to go into the army and, when Rose said he wasn't, the doctor classified him 4F.

"I heard Rose's last broadcast as principal (must have been around 1948.) He was the intermission interview guest and he reflected on the perils of leaving a secure job at the New York Philharmonic for a solo career. (When I mentioned this to him, he denied having had any qualms about the move, but I remember what he said at the time. He sure sounded nervous to me, but that might just have been Leonard's usual pessimistic outlook coming across.) Anyway, Leonard said that all the time he was in New York he kept showing up at an agent�s offices and asking them to take him on. Finally, (he said) with Feuermann dead, one of them concluded that there was room for one more cellist and took him on, so he left the New York Philharmonic."

BA

>> Those Shostakovich Trio artificial harmonics

Andrea: My trio is going to be working on the Shostakovitch Trio this summer at a festival but I've decided I better get a head start on the opening artificial harmonics passage. Can you suggest any ways of practicing it other than the following:

Or can I just "cheat" and play all the notes way way up there just above my bow? Has anyone ever done this? Do I have to play them where Shostakovitch suggested?

LeMaster: A famous soloist we had last season reminded me that I don't have to press the string all the way down with my thumb. I would advise you to practice scales using your thumb, (in the lower part of the neck of course.) Thirdly, yes, by all means, practice octaves down low. And, mainly, when you go for that high "B", DON'T PANIC!

You have to play the notes as harmonics. Shostakovich wanted that effect, not just the notes. The passage just takes a lot of time to get used to. The main thing I would warn you is to practice it with the mute on, because it changes the responsiveness of the strings. I used to practice it until I could nail it with the mute off, but then I would put the mute on to perform and the strings would respond differently. Once I started practicing with the mute on, it was much more consistent.

Please stay on the A string for that big shift, and don't let yourself be psyched out. You don't want to compromise the musical integrity for left-hand convenience, and both your audience and your teacher will be impressed! By the way, I listened to two recordings, mainly to find out what the cellists did. One of the cellists glissandos to the top note, the other was plays cleanly (I wonder how many "takes" that required). So you DO have some options here. Breathe deeply and remember the spiritual context of what you are doing.

SteveDrake4: Yep, you don't have to press down firmly with your thumb. There are one or two harmonics you may need to press down for, but in general it's a lot easier if you just slide thumb and 3rd over the surface.


DEPARTMENTS


ACTIVITIES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

** Members can submit announcements or news to editor@cello.org **

1. Alban Gerhart's Cello Stolen

Alban Gerhardt's cello, made by Guadagnini, was stolen from the exercise area in the basement of his home in Charlottenburger, Germany. The theft occurred just days before Gerhardt was supposed to record music of Frank Bridge with the BBC's Welsh orchestra. Eberhard Finke, a retired Berlin Philharmonic cellist, volunteered the use of his instrument and Gerhardt was trying to become comfortable with it in time for the recording session.

2. Message from the Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center

The Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center was established shortly after the death of Mrs. Eva Janzer in 1978 by Janos Starker at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. The purpose of the Center is to honor the memory of a great artist and much-loved teacher by providing support for cello performance, teaching, and research at Indiana University, in the nation, and throughout the world. The Center honors members of the cello community through such activities as the awarding of the Chevalier du Violoncelle and the Grande Dame du Violoncelle certificates at its annual Celebration, and providing scholarships for outstanding cello students. In addition, the Center houses a vast archive of rare cello music, CD recordings, DVDs, and an instrument collection.

http://www.music.indiana.edu/som/ejmccf/

3. A cellist makes People Magazine's list

Marie Ahn (cello) and sister Lucia Ahn (violin) of the Ahn trio were selected as one of the 50 most beautiful people by People Magazine. They are the only two classical artists who made the list and are from South Korea.

4. New Cello Society

A new cello society has been formed in London, with a board that includes many of the world's most prominent cellists, including Rostropovich, Ralph Kirshbaum, Steven Isserlis, Simon Morris, Paul Watkins, and Raphael Wallfisch. For more information, please write to sarah.butcher@ukonline.co.uk.

5. New Principal Cellist in the Cleveland Orchestra

Desmond Hoebig has allegedly been appointed Principal Cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra (the Cleveland Orchestra has not confirmed this yet). He is one of Canada's finest instrumentalists, was now principal cellist of the Houston Symphony and Associate Professor at the Shepherd School of Music. He was the first prize winner of the Munich International Competition, CBC Talent Competition, and Canadian Music Competition, and an award-winner in Moscow's Tchaikovsky Competition. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with David Soyer and the Juilliard School with Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins. He also participated in masterclasses with Janos Starker and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi at the Banff Centre for the Arts.

As guest soloist, Hoebig has performed with all the major orchestras in Canada, Houston, Cincinnati, and Madison Symphonies, and with orchestras in Germany, Spain, and Portugal. As a chamber musician, he was the cellist of the Orford String Quartet, which performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. They won a Juno award for best classical album. With Andrew Tunis, Desmond has had a cello and piano duo for 18 years. They have made three recordings, one of which was nominated for a Juno award, and have performed recital tours in North America and Europe.

Hoebig has performed and taught at festivals throughout North America including Banff, Domaine Forget, Kapalua, Madeleine Island, Marlboro, Music Bridge in Calgary, Orcas Island, Orford, Parry Sound, Scotia Fest, Steamboat Springs, Vancouver, and Victoria. Previous to the Orford Quartet and teaching at the University of Toronto, Hoebig was principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony and associate principal of the Montreal Symphony.

6. New Book

The Orchestra Audition: How to Prepare has just been released for the musician ready to take a professional orchestra audition. This book is a step-by-step process for preparing for professional orchestra auditions. It discusses repertoire, how to find openings, how to deal with nerves, build confidence...and much more. It was written to apply to all instruments of the orchestra. Find out more at http://www.OrchestraAudition.com

7. Re-issued Books

8. Re-issued Recording

Siegfried Palm's landmark recital disc from the 1970's has been re-released by Deutsche Grammophone (D 471 573-2). The program consists of Webern Cello Sonata and Drei Kleine Stucke, op. 11, Xenakis Nomos Alpha, Penderecki Capriccio, and much more. Check it out!

9. Passages

10. Award Winners

11. New Peabody Conservatory Faculty

Amit Peled, 29, of Israel, will join the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory in September. Peled is former student of Laurence Lesser, Boris Pergamenschikov, and Bernard Greenhouse.

12. More Cello News

A cello news link has been engineered using Google.com's features. Be sure to bookmark it.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=cellist+cello&btnG=Google+Search


MUSIC FESTIVAL WATCH

Here�s a list of the festivals I know about in 2003:

New Directions Cello Festival
New Directions Cello Festival, dedicated to nonclassical and alternative cello playing, 27-29 June, 2003 at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S.A. Concerts, workshops, jam sessions, exhibition of electronic instruments, Young People�s Cello-Bration, Cello Big Band and more. http://www.newdirectionscello.com/festival/fest03/index.htm

Adam International Cello Festival and Competition
Adam International Cello Festival and Competition, 14-20 July 2003, Christchurch, New Zealand. http://www.adaminternationalcellofest.com.

Kronberg Festival
The 6th Cello Festival in Kronberg, Germany will be a memorial to Pablo Casals, starting on the 30th anniversary of his death. The dates are October 22-26, 2003. http://www.kronbergacademy.de.

Manchester International Cello Festival
The next Manchester (U.K.) International Cello Festival has been advertised for May 5-9, 2004. In future this event will take place every three years instead of every other year. http://www.cello-festival.demon.co.uk.

Kobe Festival
The International Cello Ensemble Society will host a festival in Kobe, Japan in May 2005. http://www.kobe-cello.com.

World Cello Congress IV
World Cello Congress IV May/June 2006 at Towson University, Baltimore, Maryland. Cello Congress V is also listed on their website - May/June 2010! (There are also rumors that World Cello Congress IV will take place in 2003 in Israel. If anyone knows, could they contact me?) Also promised is a �Gala Benefit Performance� in 2003 to raise funds for WCC4. �Many of the greatest stars of the music world will join forces to present a one-of-a-kind event not to be missed.� Concerts, recitals, masterclasses, workshops, symposia, exhibits, receptions. http://www.towson.edu/worldmusiccongresses.

** If you know of any other cello events happening around the world,
please send word to Roberta Rominger, roberta@rominger.surfaid.org **


ICS LIBRARY

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OTHER INTERNET MUSIC RESOURCES

** ICS NET Resource Editor: Tim Janof at editor@cello.org **

1. Erich Kory

http://cellovision.com/

2. Paula Zahn

http://www.oprah.com/rys/journeys/rys_journeys_20010418.jhtml

3. String Pedagogy

http://www.stringpedagogy.com

4. Cellete

http://www.cellete.com/

5. David van Zandt

http://www.vanzandtviolins.com/

6. Dominik Zuchowicz

http://www.zuchowicz.com/

7. Irene Sharp Cello Seminar

http://home.pacbell.net/gszent/technique/technique.html

8. Lewis Davis

http://lewisdavis.50megs.com/

9. Rastrelli Cello Quartet

http://www.rastrelli.de/

10. Orchestral Auditions

http://www.orchestraaudition.com/

11. California Music Festival

http://www.californiamusicfestival.org

12. Leo Harris

http://www.msnbc.com/news/920468.asp

13. Music Jobs

http://mymusicjob.com

14. Stolen Instruments

http://www.ISISid.com

15. Classical Online

http://www.classicol.com/

16. CelloGutta

http://www.cellogutta.tk



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