Tim Janof, Author at CelloBello

About Tim Janof

Tim Janof was Editor for the Internet Cello Society for over twelve years, where over 100 of his articles and in-depth interviews of world-renowned cellists were published. He is the past President of the Seattle Violoncello Society and a former cello instructor at Music Center of the Northwest. He has had articles published in American String Teacher and Strad magazines and was featured in Strings Magazine. He was a featured speaker at the American String Teacher Association’s 2015 National Conference, University of Iowa’s Cello Daze, and Central Washington University’s Cello Celebration. Ovation Press has published several of his cello compositions, including Rondo in Blue (for cello and piano) and V&T Blues (for flute and cello). His cello teachers include Toby Saks, Eva Heinitz, and Cordelia Wikarski-Miedel.

Conversation with Eleonore Schoenfeld (August, 1999)

Interview by Tim Janof Eleonore Schoenfeld earned her Artist Diploma at the famed Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin, Germany. An internationally known cellist, she has concertized in four continents as soloist with leading Philharmonic and Radio Orchestras, in recitals, and in a violin-cello duo with her sister, Alice Schoenfeld, known as the "Schoenfeld Duo." She has made numerous recordings of the solo and chamber literature for major TV and radio stations in Europe and the USA. Among them are works specifically written for the Schoenfeld Duo, which has recorded for Everest and Orion Master Recordings. She has been the Director of the international Gregor Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists in Los Angeles since 1979. A renowned pedagogue, she is Professor at the University of Southern California (USC), where she has been [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-09-17T02:35:41-04:00March 1st, 2020|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Artistic Vision, Performance|Tags: Popper Etudes, Sevcik, Teaching, chamber music, Tim Janof, Pedagogy, USC, Piatagorsky, Dvorak Concerto|

Conversation with Timothy Eddy (July, 2001)

Interview by Tim Janof Timothy Eddy has earned distinction as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, chamber musician, recording artist, winner in numerous national and international competitions, and teacher of cello and chamber music. In June of 1975, Mr. Eddy received top honors at the Gaspar Cassado International Violoncello Competition, held in Florence, Italy. He has also won prizes in the Dealey Contest (Dallas), the Denver Symphony Guild Competition, the North Carolina Symphony Contest, and the New York Violoncello Society Competition. In addition to numerous solo and chamber recitals throughout the U.S., he has appeared as concerto soloist with many U.S. orchestras, including the Dallas, Denver, Stamford, Jacksonville, and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras. Mr. Eddy received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees with honors from the Manhattan School of Music, where he [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-03-15T15:40:16-04:00February 23rd, 2020|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Performance, Teaching|Tags: Tim Eddy, Elgar Concerto, Haydn Concerto, Kneisel Hall, Beethoven, tension, Tim Janof, Pedagogy|

Conversation with Truls Mørk (April, 1999)

Interview by Tim Janof Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk was the first Scandinavian to be a finalist and prize winner in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982. He was a prize winner in the Naumberg Competition in New York in 1986 and the Cassado Cello Competition in Florence in 1983, and received the UNESCO Prize at the European Radio-Union competition in Bratislava. Since 1989, he has worked with the major orchestras of Europe, including the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the London Symphony, and the City of Birmingham Symphony. In 1994 he was the featured soloist on a nationwide tour with the Oslo Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons, with appearances in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Boston's Symphony Hall, and Chicago's Orchestra Hall, among others. He is also a dedicated [...]

By Tim Janof|2024-02-05T14:49:42-05:00February 9th, 2020|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Artistic Vision, Interviews, Performance|Tags: Schumann Concerto, Shostakovich Concerto, Lutoslowski, Bach, Dvorak Concerto, vibrato, Technique, Benjamin Britten, Truls Mork|

Conversation with Zara Nelsova (June, 2000)

Interview by Tim Janof The second generation of a distinguished Russian musical family, Ms. Nelsova was born in Canada, educated in England, and is a citizen of the USA. She made her debut with the London Symphony at age 12, and since that time has regularly toured every continent, including her triumphant tour of the Soviet Union in 1966 as the first to be made by an American soloist. Zara Nelsova has appeared with virtually every major orchestra in North America including those of New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. She has appeared with numerous European orchestras including the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Royal, Berlin, and London Philharmonics, the BBC and London symphony orchestras, and in Warsaw and Poznan with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra. She has collaborated with such [...]

By Tim Janof|2022-05-09T13:53:00-04:00October 27th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Interviews, Performance|Tags: Schelomo, Zara Nelsova, Pablo Casals, Concerto, Pierre Fournier, soloist, Barber, Bloch|

Conversation with Sara Sant’Ambrogio (January, 2005)

Interview by Tim Janof Grammy Award-winning Sara Sant'Ambrogio first leapt to international attention when she won the Eighth International Tchaikovsky Violoncello Competition in Moscow, Russia. As a result of her medal, Carnegie Hall invited Ms. Sant'Ambrogio to perform a recital that was filmed by CBS News as part of a profile about her, which aired nationally. Bernard Holland of The New York Times described Ms. Sant'Ambrogio's New York debut as "sheer pleasure." Ms. Sant'Ambrogio has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as Atlanta, Boston Pops, Chicago, Dallas, Moscow State Philharmonic, the Osaka Century Orchestra (Japan), St. Louis, San Francisco and Seattle; she has performed throughout the world at major music centers and festivals including Aspen, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, the Konzert Huset in Stockholm, Marlboro, [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-03-01T17:56:16-05:00October 27th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Competition, Interviews, Performance|Tags: Eroica Trio, Sara Sant'Ambrogio, cello, Competition, Tchaikovsky Competition, Tchaikovsky|

Conversation with Maria Kliegel (September, 1999)

Interview by Tim Janof German cellist Maria Kliegel's international career started in 1981 when she received the "Grand Prix" of the Concours Rostropovich in Paris. She also won first prizes at the American College Competition, the First German Music Competition in Bonn, the Concours Aldo Parisot, and was in the national selection for "Concerts with Young Artists." After the Rostropovich Competition, the international concerts and tours began: she performed in Basel, and played with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and the Orchestre National de France in Paris -- each time with Mstislav Rostropovich conducting. She has performed at the Konzerthaus Berlin, Stuttgart Liederhalle, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Weilburger Schloßkonzerte, Gidon Kremer's Lockenhaus Festival, Gubaidulina Festival in West Germany, Risor Kam in Norway, Alte Oper Frankfurt, and Kultursommer Nordhessen. She has [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-03-01T17:58:09-05:00October 27th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Janos Starker, Performance|Tags: Concerto, Janos Starker, Rostropovich, Maria Kliegel, Naxos|

Conversation with Gerhard Mantel (February, 2000)

Interview by Tim Janof Gerhard Mantel is perhaps best known as the author of the book, Cello Technique -- Principles and Forms of Movement. He recently published his second book, Cello Üben (Cello Practice), which is currently published in German by Schott, and has quickly become a standard text in German-speaking countries; an English version will soon be published as an "e-book" by http://www.rugeri.com. He has published a set of duos for students and teachers called "25 Duettudes," each of which addresses particular technical issues for intermediate students. He has also published a cello method for children, Cello mit Spass und Hugo. He is president of the German chapter of European String Teachers' Association (ESTA). After his studies with August Eichhorn, he continued working with Pierre Fournier, Paul Tortelier, Maurice [...]

By Tim Janof|2021-07-11T18:41:29-04:00October 27th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Interviews, Performance|Tags: Gerhard Mantel, Paul Tortelier, Andre Navarra, Pablo Casals, Technique|

Conversation with Dimitry Markevitch (February, 1999)

Interview by Tim Janof Cellist Dimitry Markevitch's interests cover a variety of areas, including musicology, research into stylistic traditions, and teaching. He is a member of the American Musicological Society and the Société Française de Musicologie. He founded the Institut de Hautes Etudes Musicales (IHEM) in Switzerland. He discovered the Westphal and Kellner manuscripts of the Bach Suites, which had eluded musicologists for decades. He published his own edition of the Bach Suites (in its 3rd edition), which incorporates these manuscripts as well as the Magdalena. In 1964 he presented his edition in recital in Carnegie Hall in New York, playing all six suites in a single concert. He discovered two unknown works by Ludwig van Beethoven: the Sonata for Violoncello and Piano, Opus 64, and the Kreutzer Sonata, transcribed [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-06-02T02:01:36-04:00October 27th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Performance|Tags: Musicology, Piatagorsky, Bach, Technique, Dimitry Markevitch|

Conversation with Stephen Kates (September, 2002)

Interview by Tim Janof Stephen Kates studied with Gregor Piatigorsky, Leonard Rose, Claus Adam, Laszlo Varga, and Marie Roemaet-Rosanoff. He was awarded the Silver Medal at the Third International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1966 in Moscow, where he returned as the American juror in 1986. He has made solo appearances with the world's greatest orchestras in New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Atlanta, Baltimore, Leningrad, and Los Angeles. He is a former President of the Violoncello Society in New York. For seven summers he was a member of the faculty of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, and has taught at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore for almost 30 years. He has recorded for the RCA, Denon, Melodiya, Orion, CRI, and Bainbridge labels. [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-03-01T18:06:28-05:00October 27th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Interviews, In the Practice Room, Performance, Teaching|Tags: Piatagorsky, Stephen Kates, scales, Tchaikovsky Competition, Boccherini, Laszlo Varga, Schumann Concerto, Leonard Rose|

Conversation with Joel Krosnick (March, 2005)

Interview by Tim Janof Born in Connecticut to a family of enthusiastic amateur musicians, Joel Krosnick has been cellist of the Juilliard String Quartet since 1974. With pianist Gilbert Kalish, his sonata partner for over twenty years, he performs annual recitals at the Merkin and Weill Halls in New York, and has recorded much of the sonata repertoire, including the complete Beethoven and Brahms Sonatas and Variations, and works by Poulenc, Prokofiev, Carter, Debussy, Janácek, Shapey, Cowell, and Hindemith. Mr. Krosnick's principal teachers were William D'Amato, Luigi Silva, Jens Nygaard, and Claus Adam, whom he succeeded in the Juilliard String Quartet. While at Columbia University, he began his lifelong commitment to contemporary music and has performed and premiered many new works, including Donald Martino's Cello Concerto, Richard Wernick's Cello Concerto [...]

By Tim Janof|2024-01-03T14:06:45-05:00October 27th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Chamber Music, Interviews, Performance|Tags: string quartet, the Juilliard School, Joel Krosnick, Juilliard String Quartet, Schumann Concerto|

Conversation with Marston Smith (March, 2003)

Interview by Tim Janof Marston Smith has introduced audiences of all ages to the infinite possibilities of cello repertoire, venturing into Rock & Roll and Trance Celtic, to High Fashion Euro Funk. His performances are renowned for his creative costuming bordering between Cirque du Soleil, Lord of the Rings, and Road Warrior. He received his Master of Music degree from the renowned cellist Bernard Greenhouse and since has appeared on national television (QVC), and has been a soloist with symphony orchestras, and played in recordings for motion picture soundtracks, record albums, and performances in Las Vegas. He currently lives on a mountain top just outside of Los Angeles with his wife and three children. As a professional cellist working in the recording industry he has recorded with Barbara Streisand, Michael [...]

By Tim Janof|2021-11-18T12:34:22-05:00October 25th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Artistic Vision, Beyond the Traditional, Interviews, Performance, Self Discovery|Tags: Five-String Cello, Marston Smith, Bernard Greenhouse, improvisation, Eleanore Schoenfeld|

Conversation with Shauna Rolston (January, 2006)

Interview by Tim Janof Having been named "Young Artist to Watch" by Musical America and the youngest recipient of the Pro Musicis International Award, celebrated cellist Shauna Rolston is considered to be one of the most compelling musicians of her generation. She has been praised for the ease and naturalness of her technique, her pure intonation, sheer fearlessness, and her ability to produce a huge tone and to play with great delicacy. According to Classic CD Magazine "her recording of Elgar's cello concerto is worthy to stand alongside Jacqueline du Pré's classic account. This could be the most remarkable performance of the last 20 years." Following her formative studies at the renowned Banff Centre, Shauna earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Yale University and a Master [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-03-01T18:12:44-05:00October 25th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Artistic Vision, Interviews, Performance|Tags: William Pleeth, Banff, Shauna Rolston, Elgar, Pierre Fournier, Aldo Parisot, Yale|

Conversation with Laszlo Varga (November, 2002)

Interview by Tim Janof Hungarian-American cellist Laszlo Varga has an international reputation as soloist, recording artist, and master teacher. He served as the Principal Cellist of the New York Philharmonic for 11 years under Dimitri Mitropoulos and Leonard Bernstein. Mr. Varga has appeared as soloist with orchestras across the USA, Europe, Japan, Australia, South America, and the former Soviet Union. He has been the featured soloist, chamber musician, and master teacher at the Aspen, Chautauqua, and Shreveport festivals, among others for over 40 years. He is highly praised for his numerous recordings on the Vox, RCA, Columbia, Decca, CRI, Period, and MusiCelli labels. Mr. Varga has premiered numerous pieces for solo cello and is eagerly sought after by composers to present their works. As cellist with the Borodin Piano Trio [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-03-01T18:17:56-05:00October 25th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Interviews, Orchestra, Performance|Tags: Janos Starker, Laszlo Varga, New York Philharmonic, Borodin Trio, Leonard Bernstein|

Conversation with Anner Bylsma (September, 1998)

Interview by Tim Janof Dutch cellist Anner Bylsma received his first lessons from his father and concluded his instruction with Carel van Leeuwen Boonkamp at The Hague Conservatory, when he was awarded the Prix d’excellence. In 1959 he won a prestigious first prize from the Pablo Casals Concours in Mexico. He was solo cellist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam from 1962 to 1968. He performs regularly around the world as a soloist and recitalist, and has recorded for Das Alte Werk, Telefunken, Decca, Harmonia Mundi, Seon, RCA, Phillips, and EMI. Anner Bylsma is perhaps most famous for his interpretations of the music of Baroque and Early Classical periods. He recently published a book on the Bach Solo Cello Suites, entitled “Bach, The Fencing Master - Reading aloud from [...]

By Tim Janof|2020-04-27T15:27:51-04:00August 10th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Interviews|Tags: Bach, vibrato, Anna Magdalena, Anner Bylsma, solo suites, Authenticity, Priorities, Manuscripts|

Master Class Report: János Starker 2/29/01

Benaroya Hall, Seattle, USA, 2/29/01 The following are my notes from the master class Janos Starker gave in Seattle. 10 minutes before the class was to start, Seattle experienced a 6.8 earthquake. Apparently, Janos Starker was calm as can be backstage when it happened. The class ended up starting only 1/2 hour late. —by Tim Janoff Left Hand Anticipated Shift -- Slide before the bow change and land on the note at the bow change. Delayed Shift -- Slide after the bow change. Thumb Placement in Thumb Position -- A hitchhiking thumb allows more overtones, but it is harder to play in tune. Placing the thumb on the neighboring string is more solid, but it allows fewer overtones. The technique of the future is to place the thumb beneath the [...]

By Tim Janof|2021-11-15T13:29:47-05:00August 5th, 2019|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, Artistic Vision, Janos Starker, Self Discovery|Tags: Technique, Philosophy, Starker, Masterclass, left hand, Internet Cello Society, Pedagogy, bow, Janos Starker, ICS|

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