Inbal Segev, Author at CelloBello

About Inbal Segev

Cellist Inbal Segev’s playing has been described as “characterized by a strong and warm tone . . . delivered with impressive fluency and style” and with “luscious phrasing” by The Strad. Equally committed to new repertoire and masterworks, Segev brings interpretations that are both unreservedly natural and insightful to the vast range of music she performs.

Inbal Segev has performed as soloist with acclaimed orchestras internationally and made debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic, led by Zubin Mehta, at age 17. She has commissioned new works by Avner Dorman, Timo Andres, Gity Razaz, Dan Visconti, and more. In 2018, Segev was the first cellist to perform Christopher Rouse’s Violoncello Concerto since Yo-Yo Ma premiered it in the 1990s. She is also a founding member of the Amerigo Trio with former New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and violist Karen Dreyfus and has co-curated the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra New Music Festival with Marin Alsop since its inception in 2017.

Segev’s discography includes Romantic cello works with pianist Juho Pohjonen (AVIE); Bach’s Cello Suites (Vox), works by Lucas Richman with the Pittsburgh Symphony (Albany), Sonatas by Beethoven and Boccherini (Opus One), Nigun (Vox). With the Amerigo Trio she has recorded serenades by Dohnányi (Navona).

Inbal Segev’s YouTube channel, featuring music videos and her popular masterclass series Musings with Inbal Segev, has thousands of subscribers across continents and close to one million views. Her many honors include top prizes at the Pablo Casals, Paulo, and Washington International Competitions.

She began playing the cello in Israel at age five and at 16 was invited by Isaac Stern to come to the U.S. to continue her studies. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Yale University. Inbal Segev lives in New York with her husband and three children. Her cello was made by Francesco Ruggieri in 1673.

If it Ain’t Baroque, Don’t Break It? Thoughts About Playing Bach Today…. — by Inbal Segev

When I decided to record the Bach cello suites a couple of years ago, I started not by playing but by reading. I read Bach's biography, and then a few Baroque practice books (extremely dense and quite boring) and then I became inspired to change almost everything about the way I played Bach. I eventually came back to doing things the way that had been a part of my DNA after years of playing Bach the "modern" way (but improved), and I'd like to share some of my experiments with you. I never played from a manuscript copy before. The notes are difficult to decipher and so the work is slow and cumbersome. Worth it! Playing from copies of the surviving manuscripts by Anna Magdalena and Kellner taught me so much. There is really no way of [...]

By Inbal Segev|2021-06-21T15:10:16-04:00February 13th, 2017|Categories: Artistic Vision, Baroque, In the Practice Room, Performance|Tags: Bach, cellobello, Bach Suites, CelloBlog, inbal segev|

17 (not so) Random Tips for Practicing the Bach Cello Suites — by Inbal Segev

1. First play the bass line. Then add the top voice. 2. Think about voicing. 3. Sequences. 4. Find circles of fifths and enjoy them! 5. Gestures on slurs—the Baroque bow is heavier at the frog and lighter at the tip and sometimes it's beautiful to show the tapering of sound towards the tip. 6. Show where codas happen. 7. Interrupted cadence? 8. Sigh figures. 9. Be aware of the underlying harmony. 10. Echo effects (not too much!). 11. Vary bow pressure—Baroque bow is heavier on the down bow, lighter on the up bow. This can shape a passage of descending eight notes for example. They are not all equal in length and strength. 12. Gigue—breathe more. Feel like you are about to skip before the start. 13. When playing [...]